


Breaking Life

by TiffanyF



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-06
Updated: 2013-02-05
Packaged: 2017-11-28 09:10:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/672708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TiffanyF/pseuds/TiffanyF
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niou is forced off the Rikkai team by the one he trusted the most. He runs to Tokyo to hide and is adopted by a neko. Takes place after Nationals but ignores the U-17 story. Don't own, don't claim, no money made here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

As per usual, Niou was one of the first ones into the locker room after school to change for practice. He liked afternoon practice better than morning practice because he was more awake and felt like he could do more with his illusions. They were developing more and more and, even with his loss at nationals, he thought that he would be able to win the next time he had to play. And he had some ideas for new moves with Yagyuu that he wanted to discuss with his doubles partner.

“Oi, Yagyuu,” he said when the gentleman walked into the room, “got a second to talk before we start practice?”

Yagyuu put his bag into his locker and turned to look at Niou, glasses glinting even though there was no sun or extra light to shine on them. “Actually, Niou-kun, the team asked me to talk with you today,” he said. 

“Why, I haven’t pranked anyone in a week,” Niou replied. 

“We have decided that you are no longer needed, Niou-kun,” Yagyuu said. “And they elected me to tell you to clean out your locker and leave.”

Niou blinked a couple of times. “Oh, funny, Yagyuu,” he said. “Marui put you up to this, didn’t he? He’s still mad about the sour gum I slipped him a couple of weeks back.”

“I am afraid you don’t understand, Niou-kun.” Yagyuu pushed his glasses up and leaned against his locker. “We had a team meeting last night and decided that someone who cannot play a full match as themselves is not someone we need cluttering up the Rikkai regulars. Yukimura-kun was quite firm on this. And as you couldn’t play a full singles match as yourself, but had to rely on other players and still lost, you are not worthy of being a member of the Rikkai team.”

“What?”

“We only want the strongest players here,” Yagyuu said. “Those who will help us reclaim our title, not hold us back or drag us down. We have only tolerated you, Niou-kun. No one here has ever liked you. For one who lives lies, Niou-kun, it would seem that you are not good at recognizing when you are surrounded by them.”

Niou could feel his eyes trying to fill with tears, but refused to cry. He was stronger than that. He was stronger than anyone on the team, other than Yukimura, and he would prove it. “You’re not that great a liar yourself, Yeahgyuu,” he said. “I know that Yukimura wouldn’t say anything like this, or kick me off the team.”

“Because you’re dating?” Yagyuu asked. “He told us about it, Niou-kun. We’ve all known since the first time he took you to his bed. You’re the only one out of the loop, Niou-kun, and we made sure to keep you that way. Everything you’ve ever told any of us has been shared with the others. You have no secrets and no respect here, Niou-kun.”

“So that’s how it is?” Niou took a step forward and moved up into Yagyuu’s face. “Fine, Yagyuu, I’ll leave. But I’m going to reappear when you least expect it.”

“Empty words, Niou-kun,” Yagyuu said. 

Niou spun and left the clubhouse, leaving his bags and uniform behind, keeping only his starter’s jacket. He had earned that and he wasn’t going to let anyone take it away from him.

“Masaharu?” a soft voice called as he passed by the front of the school.

“Go to hell, Yukimura,” Niou snapped. 

Yukimura ran forward and grabbed Niou’s shoulder. “Masaharu, what’s wrong?” he asked. “We have practice.”

“Yagyuu already told me all about it, buchou; about the meeting last night and how you’ve all decided I’m too much of a burden for the team. Fine, I know better than to stay where I’m not wanted. And I really hope the team got a giggle out of the dreams I told you about. Serves me right for trying to trust anyone. Think I would learn a lesson after the second time, huh?”

He tore out of Yukimura’s grasp and stalked off the campus. Yukimura let his hand drop to his side in confusion. He didn’t know what was going on, but his eyes narrowed slightly. He knew where he would be able to get answers. Yukimura picked up his bags and went to the clubhouse. “Would someone like to explain to me why Niou just left the campus and quit the team? Yagyuu?”

“Don’t be mad at Yagyuu, Yukimura,” Sanada said from by his locker. “He was only doing what I asked him to do.”

“You asked Yagyuu to drive Niou off of our team, Sanada?” Yukimura asked in a soft and deadly tone. “You asked Yagyuu to completely break my boyfriend?”

“Boyfriend?” Sanada asked in reply.

“They have been dating for six months, Sanada-kun,” Yagyuu replied. “Niou-kun talks in his sleep and I was able to learn a great deal from him then.”

Yukimura glanced between the two boys. “Someone had better start talking to me,” he said. “Because I want to know exactly what was said to Niou, why it was said and exactly how you plan to get my doubles one ace back.” He turned to Yagyuu. “You only think you are stronger, Yagyuu Hiroshi, but you are nothing compared to Niou. The problem is that you focus solely on your on-court power. Now talk before I do something you will regret.”  
*********************

Niou wandered around for a while, walking along the beach for a bit just enjoying the sound of the waves as they hit the beach, walking through the park and stopping at a couple of places he and Yukimura had spent time at together before heading to his house to pick up a few things and some money. It would be easier to hide down in Tokyo and all he wanted to do was hide and think. He made sure the door was locked behind him and left for the train station. 

The ride was quiet and Niou spent the time reading one of the pamphlets he’d received for schools overseas. He hadn’t told anyone about getting them because he was happy playing for Rikkai and had planned to continue on to Rikkai high with the rest of his team - his former team he corrected himself - but now he had other options, although he would have to make the choice soon. The deadline was approaching and he would have to have things in the mail soon. Niou had discarded the ones that didn’t offer a full scholarship because he knew his family would never pay for him to go to school overseas, they already complained about how much Rikkai cost. But that still left him with five options. He’d never realized how many scouts came to their games before, especially high school scouts. The schools looked good, all of them had good tennis programs as well as academic, and Niou didn’t know how he would make the choice in time. 

He sighed and tucked the papers away in his bag. Niou didn’t want to leave Rikkai. Even with how he had been betrayed by his team, he didn’t want to leave. He had been happy there, with Yukimura and the other regulars. Niou wasn’t stupid enough to think that life didn’t change between junior high and high school, however, he hadn’t thought it would change as dramatically as it had. And to have the one he considered his best friend tell him to get lost just made it hurt even worse. Niou had told things to Yagyuu that he hadn’t wanted repeated to anyone else, had trusted the other boy to keep his secrets. That the whole team knew of Niou’s deepest fears and family problems, not to mention the health issue Yagyuu’s father had treated him for. Not even Yukimura knew about that one because he had been in the hospital himself when Niou had needed help and Niou hadn’t wanted to burden his boyfriend - former boyfriend - with even more problems. Yagyuu had suggested his father and Niou had been happy to have the professional help and care in return for a month of yard chores. To learn that Yagyuu had taken that trust and blabbed it to the team did more than hurt. It tore Niou’s heart to shreds. 

As the train pulled into the station, Niou picked up his bag and vanished out into the city.  
**********************

Yanagi was surprised to walk into the clubhouse and find the rest of the regulars on the ground sobbing. “Seiichi, do I want to know what has happened?” he asked.

Flaming ice blue eyes turned on him. “Did you know about the plot against Masaharu?” Yukimura asked in reply. 

“Plot?”

“Do not lie to me, Renji, I am not in the mood,” Yukimura replied. “These people decided that they wanted to give Niou a reason to get stronger and, instead, completely broke his heart. For some reason they believed that telling a boy who is unloved at home that no one likes him, has kept a secret for him, or that I love him and have been sharing our most private moments with the rest of the team for them to laugh at would make him stronger. Did you give them the data on this, Renji?”

“Of course not, Seiichi,” Yanagi replied. “I have been observing Niou since nationals and had noticed that he was already growing stronger than he was at the start of the game against Fuji. With his growth he would have been twice as strong by the start of the next school year, and nearly unbeatable by the time we returned to nationals.”

“Exactly what I was thinking,” Yukimura said. “Renji, this has to be dealt with, but I need to find Niou first. And I think that laps until I return shall be a good start to the punishment.”

Yanagi sighed. “Seiichi, there is a 98% chance that many laps will kill the regulars,” he said. “And if they are dead, they cannot make amends for what they have done. Allow me to put them through a special workout this afternoon while you search for Niou. There is a 100% chance he will have left his phone at home and traveled down into Tokyo.”

“Thank you, Renji,” Yukimura said. He walked past Yagyuu and paused. “You will regret this, Yagyuu. The question is just how much I shall make you suffer for what you have done to one of your team.”  
********************

Kikumaru Eiji had been at the ice cream shop with Momo and Echizen and felt significantly lighter in the wallet. “Mou,” he sighed to himself. “And I didn’t even get to eat anything.” His footsteps took him towards the green storage container that he and Oishi liked to sit on and talk about everything. Or they had, until Oishi started dating a girl in his class. Now Oishi only had time for practice and Eiji was left alone a lot more, which made it harder for them to play. Eiji was still waiting to hear on one of his high school applications and he had three more exams to sit, but he knew that he wanted to go to a school that had a good tennis program. He had thought that he was going to go to the same school as Oishi, but Oishi had already been accepted to a school that would help him become a doctor and didn’t have a tennis program, so their doubles pair had been broken. Eiji was happy for Oishi because he knew that his friend would be an awesome doctor and help a lot of people, but Eiji liked playing doubles with Oishi and didn’t want to change to a new partner. But he also knew that he didn’t have enough stamina to play singles on a regular basis.

He was just about to hop up on the container to think when he noticed a familiar head on the other side of the bushes. Eiji took a deep breath and walked over. “Niou Masaharu from Rikkai?” he asked softly.

“Not any more,” Niou replied. 

“Mou, that doesn’t sound good,” Eiji said. “What happened?”

“I’d rather not talk about it.”

Eiji flopped down on the ground next to Niou and leaned forward. “If it hurts that much then you don’t have to,” he said with a small smile. “But I find that talking about problems helps in the long run, even if it really hurts when you’re talking about them for the first time. And sharing problems makes them lighter.”

“Aw, what the hell,” Niou muttered. “My team betrayed me and kicked me out. I trusted them and it came back to hurt me in the end.”

“How could they?” Eiji asked. “That’s horrible. That’s not what tennis is about. Ne, ne, let’s go tell my team and we’ll go beat them into the ground again. That’ll show them that they’re wrong. Or we could hide up in the trees and throw nuts at them and then blame the squirrels for it. No one would ever know the difference.”

Niou quirked an eyebrow at the hyper boy. “Blame the squirrels?” he asked.

“Yeah, they’re evil and would totally throw nuts at people,” Eiji replied. “Or we could go and get something to eat and talk some more.”

“I just walked into that one, didn’t I?” Niou asked with a small sigh. “Well, Kikumaru-kun, why not? It’s not like I don’t have something better to do.”

“Okay, let’s go!” Eiji exclaimed bouncing to his feet. He knew he had enough left to buy them each a hamburger and some fries. While he was still upset about the whole mess with Oishi, that was just life and changes that had to come. What Niou was going through was different and Eiji had to be the cheerful one to help the other boy. No one should be allowed to be mean to a team mate and get away with it.


	2. Chapter 2

When they got to the burger store, Niou insisted on helping to pay for their dinner, and Eiji was happy to let him because it meant that they could have soda and ice cream too. “Ne, Niou-kun, what are you going to do now?” he asked once they were sitting at a table by the front window, food in front of them.

“I’ll go back and talk to my teachers and see if I can take a couple of exams early,” Niou said snagging a fry. “I’ve got some deadlines to meet and the exams as scheduled won’t work out.”

“Where are you going to go?” Eiji asked.

“I don’t know, but away from here,” Niou replied. “You’ve got company.”

Eiji turned and looked out the window. Oishi was standing there staring back at him in shock. Eiji just smiled and waved, ignoring the frantic waving that Oishi was doing to try and get him to go out into the street. “I’m applying to some schools overseas,” he said. “There’s one in England that has an awesome tennis program that I really hope I can get into.” He slumped a little and sighed. “But I need to find a new doubles partner and that’s going to be hard.”

“England, huh?” Niou asked with a small smile. “I think your friend really wants to talk with you, Kikumaru-kun.”

“Eiji, what are you doing here?” Oishi asked.

“Talking with a friend and having dinner,” Eiji replied. “I asked you if you wanted to come with me earlier today but you were too busy. You’re not my only friend, Oishi.”

“Eiji!”

Niou hid his smirk behind his hamburger. When he had faced the so-called Golden Pair on the court he’d thought that Kikumaru Eiji was a push-over who leaned on his partner too much, but now he was seeing some growth in the other boy. He kind of liked it. “Ne, Kikumaru-kun,” Niou finally said, interrupting Oishi’s rant. “How would you like to go and play tennis when we’re done here?”

“Can we? Nya, that would be awesome!” Eiji said. 

“Eiji, you can’t play right after you eat. You’ll get sick,” Oishi said. “And besides, you know you’re just going to get hurt. This is Niou Masaharu you’re talking to.”

“I know who I’m talking to,” Eiji said. “Niou isn’t going to hurt me because he’s the one who is hurting right now and you’re not helping anything with your mean comments.”

“Eiji.”

“You made your choice, Oishi,” Eiji said turning back to the table. He picked up his hamburger and bit into it. “Ne, Niou, should we have Oishi go find a partner and play them at doubles?”

“I don’t think he’s up to it,” Niou said dismissively. “But I’m sure we can find someone to challenge us at the street courts.”

“Eiji!” Oishi exclaimed.

“Just go away, Oishi,” Niou said. “Be a good boy and leave us alone.”

Oishi started to do a fish impression, not at all helped by the fact that Eiji didn’t say anything and just snickered. He finally turned and walked out, trying to maintain what dignity he had left. Niou shook his head with a sigh. “That one has worrying down to an art, doesn’t he?”

“He has a good heart and is a good person,” Eiji said. “He’s just busy.”

“Sure,” Niou said. He dropped his burger onto its wrapper and looked at the neko-boy. “Eiji, I think you’ve been hurt just as badly as I have and you just don’t want to admit it. Let’s skip tennis and go talk.”

“Okay,” Eiji said with a sigh. “We might as well take this with us.” He perked up. “And we still need to get ice cream too.”  
**********************

Yukimura had no idea where to start looking for Niou once he was in Tokyo. It was bad enough that Sanada and Yagyuu had done something so cruel and intentionally damaging - even though Sanada seemed to have just planted the idea in Yagyuu’s mind by telling him to drive Niou to work harder. Yagyuu had taken it far too far in telling Niou things that would cut so deeply and make Niou run. It made Yukimura wonder what his boyfriend had been hiding from him, and why Niou would actually hide something like that from him. Yukimura would have helped Niou out of anything kind of problem, no matter what it was, if only the petenshi would have asked.

He sighed and rang the bell set in the wall. “Is Tezuka-kun home?” he asked when greeted. “This is Yukimura Seiichi.”

“Yukimura?” Tezuka’s voice sounded surprised. “I didn’t think you knew where I live.”

“Sanada told me once,” Yukimura replied. “I need some help and advice, Tezuka. I am sorry to just show up unannounced, but there’s been a small emergency at Rikkai and you’re the first one I thought of to talk with.”

“Come in,” Tezuka said.

“Thank you.” Yukimura opened the gate and made his way up the path to the house, where he could see Tezuka waiting at the door. “Tezuka.”

“We can talk out back,” Tezuka said. “I think you’ll like it.”

Yukimura picked up his shoes and carried them through the house and out into a garden. “Oh, this is beautiful,” he said with a smile. “Does your grandfather do most of the work or is it a family project?”

“We all spend time working out here,” Tezuka said. “Although I prefer reading. Come on, there’s a bench over here we can talk at.”

“Thank you for this, Tezuka; I know we haven’t always been on the best of terms, but I didn’t know who else to turn to for this.”

Tezuka sat down on a wooden bench and turned slightly so he was facing Yukimura when the other buchou when he sat as well. “One of my players is missing here in Tokyo, Tezuka, and I was hoping that you and your team might be willing to help me find him,” Yukimura said. “Niou has been hurt badly and ran without thinking, at least as far as I can tell.”

“The Petenshi,” Tezuka said. “Yukimura, how do you propose to find someone who can look like anyone he wants to?”

“I don’t know,” Yukimura said. “I just want to find him, Tezuka, and let him know what has happened. Can you help me, please?”

“Yukimura,” Tezuka sighed. “Do you have any idea how hard such a thing would be?”

“I know there’s only nine of you, Tezuka, but with me helping that would be ten and that’s more than I have right now,” Yukimura said. He looked up at Tezuka, tears in his blue eyes. “Tezuka, Niou was told that I was telling the whole team all of his secrets and dreams, things that he shared with me because we’re dating. He thinks that everyone on the team has betrayed him.”

“Have they?”

“No. Just his doubles partner and Sanada,” Yukimura said. “They will be punished when I get back, but I have to find Niou first. I have to talk with him, Tezuka. I have to make sure he knows what is going on.”

“Tezuka!” 

Both buchous looked up at a shout from the door. Oishi ran through the garden, panting. “Tezuka, Eiji is out with Niou from Rikkai. We need to help him.”

“Where?” Yukimura asked jumping up.

“Yu-Yukimura!” Oishi skidded to a stop and froze.

“Where were they, Oishi?” Tezuka asked standing as well.

“McDonalds, but they were planning to leave again,” Oishi said. “Tezuka, I’m worried about Eiji. He wasn’t acting like himself.”

“Go, Yukimura,” Tezuka said. “I’ll catch up. The nearest McDonalds is only about ten blocks from here. Head west directly up the street.” He watched as the Rikkai buchou ran out. “Oishi, tell me the truth. All of it.”

Oishi’s head dropped. “I guess it is my fault, Tezuka,” he said. “I’ve been neglecting both Eiji and tennis practice lately, but for him to be with Niou of all people. He’s only going to get hurt.”

“I would say that he’s been hurt enough, Oishi,” Tezuka said sharply. “You haven’t seen him at practice lately. I honestly don’t blame him for wanting to take some time to think about things before talking to you again. You’ve already been accepted into your new school, and you did it without talking to Eiji about what he wanted to do, or what you could have done together. You two are the top doubles pair in the nation and a lot of people were hoping you would continue to play. Did you ever stop to think about that, that you both could continue on without harming your studies?”

“Tezuka.”

“You want to be a doctor. That will take dedication and hard work, Oishi. And Eiji would have understood if you had only taken two seconds to talk with him about it before applying to high school,” Tezuka continued. “Now his dream has been shattered for yours. I don’t blame him for looking for someone to talk to.”

“But it’s Niou!” Oishi protested.

“And Niou needs someone to talk with as well,” Tezuka said. “Did you hear them say where they were going to go?”

“No, but I have a feeling they’ll go to the park where Eiji and I always go. Went.”

“You need to think about what you want to say to Eiji,” Tezuka said. “I have to go. Yukimura has asked for my help.”

“Tezuka, why would you help Rikkai? They did their best to disable us.”

“You don’t know Yukimura Seiichi, Oishi.” Tezuka walked away quickly so Oishi wouldn’t hear the rest of his sentence. “No one truly does.”


	3. Chapter 3

Yukimura ran as fast as he could down the street, eyes searching for the familiar spiked platinum hair that would indicate that his boyfriend was around, but he didn’t see anyone who looked familiar. It wasn’t as crowded as he had feared, but even without a lot of people around, he couldn’t see Niou. He finally came up to the McDonalds and took a quick second to catch his breath; the buchou of Rikkai would never show weakness in public, no matter how frantic he was. His heart sank when he walked inside and looked around, there was no sign of Niou or Eiji anywhere.

Tezuka was waiting for him when he walked back out. “I’m sorry, Yukimura,” he said. “But I have an idea where they might have gone to.”

“Thank you,” Yukimura replied. He fell into step next to Tezuka. “What else did Oishi have to say?”

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Tezuka said. “I just gave him some advice about life in general. He’s broken apart the Golden Pair and Eiji is hurting badly right now. I’ve been worried about him, and maybe this is what he needs.”

“To help Niou?” Yukimura asked.

“To be able to talk with someone who will understand him,” Tezuka replied. “Have you thought about what you’re going to do when you find Niou, Yukimura, or did you come here with no plan beyond finding him?”

“I’ll tell him the truth,” Yukimura said.

“If you can get him to listen to you.”

“Of course he’ll listen to me.”

Tezuka glanced over at the shorter buchou. “Yukimura, listen to me,” he said. “You told me that Niou believes the whole team has lied and betrayed him. Why should he change his mind or listen to you just because you came chasing after him?”

“What was I supposed to do, just let him go? Even if he doesn’t believe me, he’ll have heard what I have to say and maybe he’ll think about it,” Yukimura said. “I don’t want to lose him, Tezuka. I can’t lose him.”

“You may have no choice in the matter,” Tezuka said. “Are you prepared for that, Yukimura? For him to leave you and go his own way rather than follow you around through high school?”

“He’s already planning to continue on at Rikkai, just like the rest of us,” Yukimura said shortly. “We’re going to regain our crown, Tezuka.”

Tezuka sighed. He couldn’t believe how badly the other was blind to what was going on around him. Tezuka was no stranger to betrayal within a team, which was one reasons he’d always kept such a close watch on his own players, to make sure that none of them was badly hurt by another wearing the same uniform. “I hope you’re right, Yukimura,” he said.

“Of course I’m right,” Yukimura said. He started scanning the park as they got closer, looking for platinum hair. “I know Niou.”

“Do you?”

The cool blue eyes snapped around to him. “What does that mean?”

“Just a question.” Tezuka spotted Eiji up on top of the green container that he and Oishi had loved so much. “There’s Eiji.”

Yukimura hurried forward. “Niou?” he called. “Masaharu, are you still here?”

“It would be a stupid question if I wasn’t,” Niou’s voice drifted down from the top of the container. “What are you doing here, Yukimura?”

“Looking for you. I need to talk with you.”

Eiji’s face appeared over the edge of the container. “Why should he listen to anything you have to say?” he demanded. “After what you and your so-called team did to him, you should be on your knees begging for forgiveness, not just standing there telling him that you need to talk.”

“How dare you talk to me like that,” Yukimura started.

“Chill, Eiji, let him talk,” Niou broke in. “The sooner he starts, the sooner he’ll leave and we can go play that tennis match we were talking about.”

“Nya,” Eiji muttered but pulled back away from the edge. “I don’t like it, Niou, he’s just going to say things that’ll hurt you even more and you don’t need to be listening to stuff like that.”

Tezuka had a hand over his mouth to cover his smile as best he could. He’d missed the more serious and dedicated Kikumaru and was really going to regret not having the acrobat on their team the following year. It was a loss to Seigaku.

“Masaharu, Yagyuu lied to you,” Yukimura said. “I didn’t know anything about what was going on until you ran past me this afternoon. Sanada asked Yagyuu to help you become stronger and Yagyuu took it too far. I’m going to punish them both, but you are my first priority. Will you come down from there so I can see you and we can talk?”

“Nope,” Niou drawled.

“What do you mean, no?”

“It’s a nice short word, buchou, so I think you should be able to understand it just fine,” Niou said. “You saw the last of me today when I left Rikkai. Why would I want to stay with someone who tells all my secrets, or a team that doesn’t want me? I’ve got other plans, so you don’t have to worry about me.”

“I told you that Yagyuu lied to you,” Yukimura said.

“Whatever.”

“Niou.”

“Nope.”

Eiji’s face appeared again just before he jumped down and landed in front of Yukimura. The blue-haired buchou took a step back in surprise at the flame in Eiji’s eyes. “Who cared who lied first?” he demanded. “What does it matter who hurt who first? The point is that your team doesn’t want one of the most powerful players they had and that’s their problem. You’re just scared of losing the stupid nationals next year, that’s the only reason you want Niou back with you. You don’t actually care about him as a person or a player. And if you can’t hold onto your team, then you don’t deserve to be the buchou.”

Niou snickered from on top of the container. “Eiji, you look like an angry cat,” he said. He hopped down and tossed Eiji’s bag to him. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I have stuff I need to do.”

“Okay,” Eiji agreed. But he turned back one last time and glared at Yukimura. “You can use my computer if you want to.”

“Thanks,” Niou said.

“Niou Masaharu, come back here,” Yukimura called. “I haven’t finished talking to you.”

“Oh, just stop, Yukimura,” Niou said. “I’ve never been vulnerable to your powers. I just pretended.”

Tezuka’s eyes actually widened in shock. He had never heard of anyone who was able to deflect the powers of the Child of God, on or off the court. That in itself was a talent he would love to have playing at Seigaku. “What are you going to do now, Yukimura?” he asked softly.

“Niou has to come back to classes,” Yukimura said. “I’ll talk to him then. But I’ll also deal with Yagyuu and Sanada. I still don’t understand what they were doing.”

“I do.”

“What?”

“You saw for yourself that Niou is more powerful than anyone on your team, regardless of how well he can play singles. I have never seen anyone who was able to turn aside your powers, have you?”

“No.”

“They wanted to get rid of the threat to their own places on the team,” Tezuka said. “They’re scared of his powers and thought the best thing to do was get rid of him.”

“That’s stupid,” Yukimura said.

“Perhaps, but I think you’ll find that I’m right.”

“Thanks for your help, Tezuka,” Yukimura said.

Tezuka nodded. “Give me a call and let me know what happens when you talk with Niou next,” he said. “I’m kind of curious to find out where this is all going to lead.”

“I will,” Yukimura agreed.  
****************************

Eiji’s parents didn’t even blink when he introduced Niou to them or asked if the other boy could stay the night. Niou was rather impressed by how caring Eiji’s family was, such a contrast to his own. “Thanks for all of this, Eiji,” he said once they were in the neko-boy’s bedroom. “I’ll do my best not to wake up up when I get up in the morning.”

“It’s no problem,” Eiji replied with a smile. “I know what it is to hurt and need someone to just be there. You’re helping me out too, after all.”

Niou smiled. “I had expected you to hold a grudge for what happened when we played each other, and when I played against Fuji.”

“That’s just tennis,” Eiji said. “You should never hold a grudge or hate someone for what happens when you’re on the tennis court because that just wouldn’t be fair.”

“So do you want to talk about what happened with your partner?” Niou asked.

“Muwa, Oishi has a girlfriend now and decided that he wanted to go to a different school, so that broke apart our pairing,” Eiji said. “But he’ll be an awesome doctor so it would be selfish of me to stand in his way over something like tennis. He needs to do whatever he needs to to make his dream come true.”

“No matter how much it hurts you?”

Eiji let his head drop down onto the bed. “I can find someone else to play doubles with,” he said. “Oishi won’t always have a chance to get into the program he needs to be a doctor.”

Niou stood and moved over to the bed and sat down next to the other bed. He put a hand on Eiji’s shoulder and squeezed softly. “You never told him the truth, did you?” he asked softly.

“How could I?” Eiji asked in reply. He looked up and saw the understanding in Niou’s eyes. “He’s always liked girls and I would have just scared him away if I told him how much I love him. It’s better this way. There’s always a chance we can be friends.”

“I’d say it really is his loss,” Niou said. He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to Eiji’s forehead. “Whatever schools we end up at, Eiji, let’s stay in touch.”

“Okay,” Eiji agreed with a smile.


	4. Chapter 4

Early the next morning, Niou dressed and snuck out of Eiji’s room, pausing to leave his contact information on the desk and kissing Eiji’s forehead again. He wasn’t normally an early riser, but he had to get back to get to school early enough to talk with his teachers about exams. He’d made his decision about which schools he was going to apply to and had a feeling that he would get his choice of them once everything was submitted.

Using a broken window he climbed into the Rikkai tennis club house and changed into a spare school uniform he’d kept there and grabbed his bags. Niou cleaned out his locker and only just resisted the urge to prank a couple of the other lockers before leaving. He wasn’t going to sink to their level. Not after the day he’d had. He climbed back out the window and made sure it was shut properly and walked up to the school.

He was lucky and the teacher he needed was already in the teacher’s room getting ready for the day. “Tanaka-sensei, do you have a moment?” he asked from the door.

“Niou-kun, you’re early today,” Tanaka replied. He took off his glasses and looked at his favorite student. “You aren’t here to set up anything, are you?”

“No, I need to talk with you about high school,” Niou said. He sat down across from his math and sciences teacher. “I want to apply overseas but the deadline is in two weeks.”

“Which won’t work because exams won’t be over by then,” Tanaka said. “I think we can work something out for you, Niou. But I thought you were planning to stay here and continue on with Rikkai through university.”

Niou sighed. “The team decided they don’t want me with them anymore, sensei, so I thought I would go with a school that does.”

“Which ones are you looking at?”

“There’s four,” Niou said. He took out the brochures and handed them over. “They’re all scholarship schools if my test scores are high enough and they have good programs for classes and tennis.”

Tanaka flipped through the information. He knew that Niou’s family wouldn’t pay for him to go out of the country and admired the research his student had done on his own, making decisions that would have thrown an adult in some cases. “These are good schools,” he finally said. “Is your English good enough for the one in England if you get in there?”

“I think so,” Niou said. “I can definitely follow conversations and I’ll work extra hard over the summer before starting classes.”

“Let me talk with the headmaster, but you should be able to take some of the modified exams today,” Tanaka said. “We keep them for those who do choose to apply overseas, so there’s no worry about students cheating on their final exams of the year.”

“Thank you,” Niou smiled. “Would it be all right if I waited in here? I don’t exactly want to see my former team mates today.”

The tone more than anything else caught Tanaka’s attention. He studied Niou’s face closely and tried not to sigh. He knew how much Niou had depended on his team for support and friendship, and to lose that at such a troublesome time as between middle and high school had to hurt more than the boy was showing. “Sure,” he said. “It shouldn’t take long to get the papers I need anyway. If you’re testing now, you realize that you’ll be excused from classes for the rest of the year, right?”

“Yeah,” Niou said. “That’s not a bad thing. I just want to get these papers on the way to the schools before the deadline so I know where I’ll be next year.”

Tanaka nodded. “I’ll be right back then.”  
****************************

Yukimura didn’t really expect Niou to show for morning tennis practice, but he found himself looking anyway. And hated himself for being so weak. “Renji.”

“Good morning, Seiichi,” Yanagi said. “I spoke at length with Genichiro yesterday while he was recovering from practice and found out what his reasoning was.”

“I still can’t believe they were so stupid,” Yukimura said.

“Genichiro saw how Niou was working, or rather, not working and felt that he needed some sort of a push to inspire him to focus and get more powerful before the school year ended and we shifted over to the high school division,” Yanagi said. “His only thought was helping Niou get more power for his techniques.”

“And why did he act without speaking with me first?” Yukimura asked.

“Seiichi, I have the impression that this whole plan was Yagyuu’s,” Yanagi replied. “He wished to hurt Niou for some reason, or eliminate him from the team and noticed that Genichiro was watching Niou. Yagyuu suggested the plan to Sanada, who agreed without knowing exactly what Yagyuu planned to do.”

“So the fault lies with Yagyuu?”

“I believe so. You know that Genichiro cannot lie to save his life,” Yanagi said. “Especially to me. He honestly seems to regret what happened and wants to bring Niou back to the team.”

“What about Yagyuu?”

Yanagi looked at his best friend. “I didn’t have a chance to talk with him, Seiichi, but I think it would be better if you allowed me to do it rather than talking with him yourself,” he said. “I have a 75% better chance of getting the truth out of him than you do.”

“Tezuka told me they did it because they were afraid of Niou,” Yukimura said.

“That’s possible,” Yanagi agreed. “Or at least a part of it. It’s also possible that Yagyuu had no other motive than to hurt Niou as much as possible, although I don’t know why that would be.”

“I do.”

The pair turned. “Akaya, what have I told you about eavesdropping?” Yanagi asked with a sigh.

“I know, and I’m sorry Yanagi-sempai, but I know why Yagyuu-sempai hurt Niou-sempai so badly,” Akaya replied.

“Why?” Yukimura asked softly. He had a soft spot for the baby of the team and was only hard on him when they were around others.

“He’s jealous of you, buchou,” Akaya said. “He wanted to have Niou-sempai as his boyfriend and, when he couldn’t, he decided to hurt both you and Niou-sempai and tricked fukubuchou into helping.”

Both Yanagi and Yukimura stared at the baby of their team. “Akaya, how do you know all of this?” Yukimura finally asked.

“I overheard when Yagyuu-sempai asked Niou-sempai out on a date and Niou-sempai turned him down,” Akaya replied. He hung his head. “I’m sorry I didn’t mention anything at the time, buchou, but I didn’t know that you and Niou-sempai were dating. If I had said something you could have taken care of this and we would still have Niou-sempai on the team.”

“It’s not your fault, Akaya,” Yanagi said. “I’ll have a talk with Yagyuu first, Seiichi, and then you can do whatever you want to him.”

Yukimura nodded. “Akaya, go warm up. I want you to play against Sanada this morning,” he said. He sighed and looked back towards the school, wondering where Niou was and what he was doing. And if he would even be coming back to school so Yukimura could talk to him. He had to hold onto the hope that Niou would be in class so they could work out what was wrong. There was no way that Yukimura could just leave things the way they were.  
*******************************

Niou spent the day working on exams under the watchful eye of the headmaster for Rikkai and finished all but two of them by the end of the day. He really wanted to stay and take the last two after school, but the headmaster told him to come back early the next morning and they would finish up then, and everything would be graded and ready to be mailed to the schools he had chosen by the end of the following school day. Niou had thanked the headmaster and headed home to work on the applications and essays that were required for a couple of the schools.

To keep from being spotted by anyone he knew, he cast an illusion over himself and walked off the grounds as a random and plain Rikkai student. The school was large enough that there were always a few students around that no one seemed to know, which suited Niou perfectly.

Once he had his course chosen, it was remarkably easy to just do what needed to be done. He was still upset about having to leave Rikkai and the boy he’d thought loved him, but the wound to his heart was big enough that he knew he had to go. There was no other way to heal. And there was another consideration. A certain neko that he couldn’t seem to get out of his thoughts.


	5. Chapter 5

Eiji finished his exams with a mixed sense of joy and fear. It wouldn’t be long until he moved out of the country to continue his schooling and, while he was excited for such an adventure - and a chance to play against new opponents on the tennis court - it would be really hard for him to leave his friends and family behind. He knew he was making the right move, what he had to do, but there was still a whisper in his heart that he needed to stay in Tokyo and wait for Oishi to come back to him. It was stupid and he knew it was the connection he had with Oishi that allowed them to enter synchro no matter where they were. Eiji had a feeling that connection wouldn’t ever vanish and he wondered if Oishi felt it as strongly as he did. From watching his doubles partner, he doubted it. Oishi was acting like he had been since he got together with his girlfriend.

“Eiji.”

“Nya, Tezuka, don’t sneak up on me like that,” Eiji gasped, trying to calm his heart down.

“Have you talked with him yet?”

“No.”

“You should.”

“He’s too busy right now,” Eiji said. “I’ll talk to him before I leave, but I don’t want to bother him.”

Tezuka sighed. “I don’t like losing you like this, Eiji,” he said. “You’re an important member of the Seigaku team and you would only bring more power to us next year. I’m sure we could find you someone to play with so you wouldn’t have to play singles.”

“I can’t, Tezuka,” Eiji said. “Just like you needed to leave when you were injured, I need to leave now. I’ll come back stronger than I am now, but I can’t grow here anymore. Not with someone new when Oishi is so close.”

“You still feel that connection to him.”

“Yeah, and will as long as he’s close to me. I think that leaving will help bury it and let me play doubles with a new partner and have the potential there that I need to grow. But it can’t be here in Japan.”

“What about Niou?” Tezuka asked.

“He’s been accepted to a school overseas too,” Eiji replied. “They called him the day they received his application and grabbed him. But he won’t tell me which one it is, so I don’t know where he’s going.”

“Niou is worried that I’ll tell Yukimura,” Tezuka said. “Even more than you, he feels a need to escape Japan and the memories that are here. Only he is running for his heart’s sake, and you’re going for the sake of your game.”

Eiji did his best to keep his eyes fixed on his buchou’s face, but couldn’t manage it. “I’m protecting my heart too, Tezuka,” he whispered.

“Oh, Eiji.”

“Nya, it’s okay,” Eiji said. “Oishi doesn’t need to know. It would be too much for him. It’s better this way.”

“No it’s not,” Tezuka sighed. “But I promise I won’t tell him until you tell me I can.”

“Thanks,” Eiji said. “I promise I’ll email from my new school and keep you updated on what I’m doing.”

“Good,” Tezuka said. “And when you come back to visit, you have to come by and play against whoever is around. You’re a positive influence on everyone around you, Eiji, and I’ll take advantage of that whenever I can.”  
******************************

Tezuka had just settled into his favorite chair with a book he had been wanting to read when the doorbell rang. As he was the only one at home, he had no choice but to answer it, no matter how much he really wanted to ignore it and just read. “Yes?”

“It’s Yukimura,” the soft voice of the Rikkai buchou replied. “Is this a bad time, Tezuka?”

“Of course not, please come in,” Tezuka said. “I’ll make us some tea. The door is unlocked.”

He went to the kitchen, knowing that Yukimura would be able to find his way, and put some water on to boil and started to set out the tea things. Tezuka had a feeling why Yukimura had come to visit and he really wasn’t looking forward to the conversation they were about to have, because he wasn’t going to be telling the other buchou anything.

“Good afternoon, Tezuka,” Yukimura said as he walked into the kitchen. “I brought some cakes. I’m sorry for intruding, but I need someone to talk to who isn’t involved on the team.”

“I’ll do whatever I can, Yukimura,” Tezuka replied.

“Niou has vanished,” Yukimura said. He sat down at the table and slumped in the chair. “None of the teachers will tell me anything, he hasn’t been in class and his family hasn’t seen him.”

“He hasn’t been in Tokyo as far as I know,” Tezuka said. He brought the tea tray to the table and sat down across from Yukimura. “But I don’t make nightly calls to my players to see who they’re around. I suppose it’s possible he’s been down to visit Eiji, but if he has, Eiji hasn’t said anything to me about it.”

“I thought I would just talk to him during a break or at lunch, but that obviously hasn’t happened,” Yukimura said. “I found out what happened, why Yagyuu did what he did, but if I can’t talk to Niou, I can’t let him know. I’ve left him messages and sent him emails but he hasn’t replied to any of them. I don’t even know if he’s listening to or reading them. What else can I do?”

“Let him go?” Tezuka suggested. “He’s obviously trying to avoid you, which should be a message in itself. Maybe you should just let him go to do whatever it is he wants to do next and realize that he’s gone.”

“How?”

“I know it’s hard, but he’s already vanished,” Tezuka said. “Maybe it’s time to let him go. Stop chasing him and allow him the time to figure out what he wants and to contact you again. It’s possible that he’ll realize what happened and contact you again.”

Yukimura studied the other buchou for a moment. “Tezuka, do you know where he is, or where he’s going?”

“Why would I know something like that?”

“Because of Eiji.”

Tezuka took a moment to open the box that Yukimura had brought with him and pick out a cake. He put it carefully on the plate in front of him and picked up a fork. “Yukimura, why did your team do what they did?” he finally asked, turning the question away from what he knew to the Rikkai team.

“Yagyuu was jealous of me,” Yukimura said. “I still don’t have all the information, but I think that Yagyuu wanted Niou for himself and when Niou told him it wouldn’t happen, he set out to hurt Niou as badly as he had been hurt. Niou talks in his sleep and it wouldn’t be hard for Yagyuu to overhear some things that Niou wouldn’t want anyone else to know about. And then use them against Niou.”

“Nothing to do with his power and potential on the courts?”

“Not as far as I know, but Yanagi did agree with you on that count,” Yukimura said. “I still haven’t been able to speak with Yagyuu and get anything from him other than denials and other bland answers. Yanagi had slightly better luck, but only just and we’re really guessing on a lot of this. We might never have all of the answers I want.”

Tezuka nodded. “I still stand by what I said about Yagyuu and the others fearing Niou’s growing powers,” he said. “We’re both losing very powerful players from our teams, Yukimura. It’s going to make next year even more interesting.”

“You will only have Inui and Fuji with you, correct?”

“For the year, yes, but then Momoshiro and Kaidoh will be joining us,” Tezuka said. “But our high school team shouldn’t be underestimated regardless.”

“Nor should Rikkai,” Yukimura smiled. “We’ll be more powerful than ever.”

“I look forward to facing you,” Tezuka said. “And I do hope you hear from Niou at some point, Yukimura. It can’t be easy to lose not only a powerful player, but your boyfriend as well.”

Yukimura let his head drop to the table. “It isn’t. And I don’t know what’s going to happen with Yagyuu after this. It’s possible that I’m going to ensure that he isn’t on the regulars next year.”

“Don’t do anything you’ll regret,” Tezuka advised. “Let things settle down and look at them again when the pain has receded a little more.”

“You know where Niou is, don’t you, Tezuka?”

“No,” Tezuka said.

“Would you tell me if you did know?”

“With how much trouble he’s going to to avoid you, I think it’s pretty obvious that he doesn’t wish to be found,” Tezuka said. “But if I hear anything during the summer or the new school year, I’ll be sure to call you.”

Yukimura studied him closely for a moment, but Tezuka’s poker face was better than Sanada’s and Yanagi’s put together. “Thank you, Tezuka,” he finally sighed.


	6. Chapter 6

Echizen had only a second to brace himself when he heard the shout. “OCHIBI!” before his sempai was on him and had him in a tight hug. “Can’t breathe, Eiji-sempai,” he managed.

“Nya, it’s just so good to see you,” Eiji said. “Thanks for taking time away from tennis to meet and help me here. I really need to practice my English more now that I’m here and I just want to make sure I get to the school okay.”

Echizen adjusted his hat and smiled. “It’s not a problem, Eiji-sempai,” he said. “I’m in the city for the rest of the month and only have matches on the weekdays. Come on, let’s head into the city.”

“How is it playing tennis all the time?” Eiji asked as they walked towards the baggage claim. He didn’t know how Echizen had made it into the arrivals area, but he wasn’t going to ask questions. Clearing customs had been unnerving enough, even with how hard he had studied his last year of middle school, but he didn’t think he would be able to navigate through the field of signs to work out where he was supposed to be going.

“It’s fun,” Echizen said. “Although there aren’t challenges like I found in Japan. I’ve been thinking about moving back there and going back to Seigaku. Think Momo-sempai and Kaidoh-sempai would let me come back to the team?”

“Of course they will, they’d be so happy to see you again,” Eiji said. “And I heard rumors that there were some powerful players appearing in the middle school division for this next year.”

“Che, I was thinking about going and challenging the Rikkai players,” Echizen said. “Come on, sempai, we get our tickets over here.”

Echizen walked Eiji through how to buy tickets for the Underground and they walked towards the ticket machines, feeding their tickets through, and down to the platform where they would catch their train into the heart of London. They stopped in front of a large sign with colored lines on it and Echizen had to work not to laugh at the stunned expression on his sempai’s face. “It’s not that hard, sempai,” he said. “Each color is a line and each circle or oval is a station. We’re here at Heathrow Airport and need to get up here to Baker Street. That means we only have to change trains once and you won’t get lost.”

“I guess I’ll learn how this works, won’t I?” Eiji grinned.

“You should be speaking English, sempai,” Echizen scolded. “You need all the practice you can get.”

“Nya, Ochibi, you’re so cruel,” Eiji whined. He turned to look at the platform. “So this is the only train that comes in here?”

“Yeah, and I know where we need to change over, so you don’t have to worry about that either,” Echizen said. “It’ll be easier if you learn the colors first, sempai, and then work on learning the stations. And make sure you always keep your ticket with you, although I’m sure the school will have passes for you guys so you won’t even have to worry about it once you start classes.”

The train pulled up, interrupting any reply Eiji could have made. He and Echizen rolled his suitcases onto the car and stored them, sitting close by where they could keep an eye on things. “We’ll be on here a while, sempai; there’s seventeen stations to go through before we get off at that last one.”

“It’ll give us time to get caught up,” Eiji grinned. “Everyone was so jealous when I said I was going to get to see you, especially Momo and Oishi. They all really miss you too.”

“It’s not like I don’t answer their emails,” Echizen said. “Or, most of them. Momo-sempai goes over the top and sends me about ten a day and there’s just no way I can answer all of them.”

Eiji laughed. “He misses you a lot, Ochibi,” he said. “You really need to go see him if you do go back to Japan, even if only to visit. I’m sure he’ll take you out for hamburgers and actually pay for you he’ll be so excited.”

“I doubt that,” Echizen said. “But I’ll think about it. I have about twenty matches before I can think about anything else.”

“Nya, I’ll have to come and cheer you on,” Eiji said.

“You don’t have to do that, sempai; they aren’t important or exciting matches, just elimination rounds for the next part of the tour,” Echizen said. “Which is going to be in Germany, so I’m sure I’ll see buchou at some point.”

“That really threw everyone when he went to Germany for the summer to train and announced he would be late coming back to start school,” Eiji said. “But the tennis coach for the high school is so happy to know that he has Tezuka coming in that they’re willing to let him do it.”

“I thought he was going to go to school in Germany.”

“So did Oishi, but I think when the team broke up the way it did, Tezuka realized that he needed to stay in Japan to help out where he could.”

Echizen looked at Eiji from under his cap. “So you never told Oishi-sempai the truth?”

“Eh? What do you mean, Ochibi?”

“Oh, come on, Eiji-sempai, it’s pretty obvious how much you love Oishi-sempai, and we kept waiting for you to say something to him,” Echizen said. “I think Momo-sempai lost some money in there somewhere.”

“He bet on me?” Eiji couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“You know how Momo-sempai is,” Echizen said. “So why didn’t you tell Oishi-sempai how you really feel?”

Eiji sighed and looked down at his hands. “Oishi started dating a girl in his class right around the time we faced Yamabuki and it just wasn’t right for me to dump my feelings onto him when he had so much going on between getting ready to go to a new school, running the team while Tezuka was gone and seeing his girlfriend.”

“And you were scared?”

“Yeah. And then there was something else too, but it happened after you had left for America.”

“Oh yeah, what?”

“Do you remember Niou Masaharu?”

“He’d be kinda hard to forget. The trickster of Rikkai, right? What happened?”

“Nya, his team hurt him badly and kicked him out. He came down to Tokyo to get away from them and think a while and I ran into him in the park and we started talking,” Eiji said. “He was dating his buchou and Yukimura came looking for him to try and convince him to come back, but Niou didn’t want to so he came to my house and it’s strange, but I would swear I felt him kiss my forehead a couple of times, but I don’t know why he would have done that. We’ve become friends and talked a lot over the summer, even though he left before I did for his new school and I don’t know where he is right now.”

Echizen had to work through Eiji’s sentence a couple of times in his head before he felt like he could reply. “Do you think he likes you, sempai?” he finally asked.

“I don’t know,” Eiji said. “He knows that I love Oishi and why I couldn’t tell him about it, so he knows that I would be open to the idea, but he was hurt so badly by his buchou and team that I don’t know if he’ll want to try to date again any time soon. I’d rather just be his friend than put him through the pain of dating again if he’s not ready for it.”

“One of these days, sempai, you really should do something for yourself,” Echizen said. He stood and swayed a little with the slowing train. “Come on, this is Gloucester Road station. It’s our change.”

Eiji grabbed two of the bags and followed Echizen out onto the platform and trailed along behind the smaller boy as he led the way up some stairs and then down onto another platform. While Eiji was able to understand a couple of the directional signs - such as keep left and do not enter - the rest of them were a mystery to him. He bit back a sigh and wondered, not for the first time, if he was making a huge mistake. “What are we watching for, Ochibi?” he asked.

“We need the circle line,” Echizen replied. “And we’re going to Baker Street, which is the closest station to your new school.”

Eiji nodded and turned to look, hoping that he would be able to read the sign on the train, that they would be labeled, and that he wouldn’t look like a total idiot before getting to the school. “I really want to explore, but with not being able to read as much as I thought I would be able to, it’s going to be hard.”

“You’ll make friends quickly, sempai,” Echizen smiled. “And then you’ll have a chance to go out and explore the city.”

“I’m sure you’re right, Ochibi,” Eiji agreed. He stared hard at the approaching train and thought that he could make out the word circle on it. “Is this ours, Ochibi?”

Echizen checked and nodded. “Well done, sempai,” he said. “Come on, let’s go.”

They found seats after stowing the luggage and Eiji turned to watch the passing scenery. He was curious about the area he was moving into and wanted to see as much as he possibly could. And he really didn’t want to continue the conversation he’d been having with Echizen as it was hitting a little too close to home and he needed some time to think about what they were talking about before he could answer any of the questions Echizen had put to him. Echizen, in turn, watched Eiji. He was worried about his always bouncy sempai. He could tell that there was something really bothering Eiji, but until he was told, wasn’t going to try and guess what it was. They didn’t have many stations to go through before Baker Street, so he was happy to let the older boy watch the passing buildings whenever they were out from under the ground.

When they got into Baker Street, Echizen made Eiji stand by both the tile profile of Sherlock Holmes and the statue outside the station before they turned east on Marylebone Road towards York Gate and Eiji’s new school. Eiji’s eyes were wide as he took in all of his surroundings, trying to memorize everything around him as he went. He was amazed at how people bounced gently off of each other and continued along with a called apology. It was crowded, but nothing like he was used to dealing with and he did his best to avoid bumping into anyone.

“There’s your school, sempai,” Echizen said, pointing to a brick building surrounded by trees.

“Wow,” Eiji grinned. “We’re in a park and close to a lake!”

“And the zoo,” Echizen added. “It’s on the other side of the park.”

“A zoo?”

“First things first,” Echizen said. “We have to get you checked in and get these things up to your room. Are you staying by yourself or do you have a roommate?”

“I don’t know,” Eiji said. “I said I wouldn’t mind rooming with someone, but I’d be fine staying alone too, so it’s whatever the school does with me.”

Echizen smiled. That was so much like Eiji that it didn’t surprise him. The older boy really hated to see anyone put out and would do whatever he could to keep the peace around him. But he also had a feeling that Eiji’s family wouldn’t be able to pay for a single room and his sempai would end up with a roommate. Echizen would make sure to get a look at the boy before he left to make sure that it wasn’t someone who would hurt Eiji.

They went through all the necessary paperwork and followed one of the upper classmen towards the dorms. “We have another new student from Japan, so we put you in the same room,” the boy said, opening a door with his key card. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” Eiji said. “That’s wonderful because now we can help each other with things we don’t understand.”

“Here’s your room,” the boy said. He opened the door onto a small room with two beds, desks and dressers. There was barely room to move around, but to Eiji it looked big.

“Thank you,” he said with a bow.

“I’m just down the hall, let me know if you need anything.”

“I will.”

Echizen looked up. “Where should we store the suitcases when we’re unpacked?” he asked.

“There’s a store room in the basement,” the boy said. “Let me know and I’ll show you down there.”

“Thank you,” Eiji said.

The far bed was obviously already claimed, so Eiji dropped his backpack on the closer bed and turned to his suitcases to start unpacking and putting things away. “Ochibi, could you hang things in the closet for me?” he asked.

“Sure sempai,” Echizen replied. “So I wonder where your new roommate is.”

“I’m sure he’ll show up in a bit,” Eiji said. He stacked his books on his desk randomly, planning to sort them later once he had everything moderately in place. “I wonder how long he’s been in the country.”

Echizen had his own idea, but kept his opinion to himself. “I wonder what school he went to before coming here,” he said.

“Nya, Ochibi, you think it’s Niou, don’t you,” Eiji said. “He could only afford to apply to scholarship schools and this wasn’t one of them. His family wouldn’t pay for him to go out of the country.”

“Or so he told you.”

Eiji glared at the younger boy. “You only saw him at that one match, Ochibi. Don’t think you know him,” he said. “Niou isn’t as mean or evil as people think he is. It’s just an act.”

“If you say so, sempai.”

They fell quiet as the door opened and a plain Japanese boy walked in. His black hair was parted evenly in the middle and he had even bangs across his forehead. “Nice to meet you, I’m Tomo Akira,” he said with a small bow.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Kikumaru Eiji. Please call me Eiji, and this is Echizen Ryoma,” Eiji said with a returned bow and smile. “Am I on the correct side of the room?”

“Yes. I am sorry for claiming the far side, but I dislike noise and wanted to be as far from the door as possible.”

“That’s fine,” Eiji said. “I don’t mind at all.” He closed the suitcase he had been unpacking and moved to the other one. “Tomo-kun, what school did you attend in Japan?”

“I was at a public middle school,” the boy replied. He sat down at his desk and regarded the Seigaku pair closely. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“If you don’t mind organizing books, my desk is still a mess,” Eiji said with another smile. “I just want to get these bags out of here.”

Tomo nodded and stood, moving to the desk. “Is Echizen-kun going to be here as well?” he asked.

“Che, no,” Echizen said. “I’m not in school right now. I’m just here to help Eiji-sempai get settled.”

“Nya, Echizen is playing tennis professionally,” Eiji said proudly. “He won the US Open and is working on some of the other big wins now.”

“Oh,” Tomo said. “I’m afraid I don’t know much about tennis at all. Do you play as well, Kikumaru-kun?”

“I do,” Eiji said. “I’m going to be trying out for the team here in doubles, but I have to find a partner first.”

Echizen looked over. “That’s all your bags, sempai,” he said. “Want me to go get your floor monitor to show you where to store them?”

“Sure, thanks, Ochibi,” Eiji said. He worked to get the last of his clothes put away in the dresser and tucked his backpack into the closet. “Thanks for your help, Tomo-kun. How long have you been in England?”

“Only a week,” Tomo replied. “Most of it was spent with my family before they returned home to Japan. And the rest of it has been preparing for classes. I need to improve my English before we start in classes.”

Eiji sighed and flopped down on his bed. “Me too,” he admitted. “That’s why Ochibi is here helping me out. He was raised in America, so he’s fluent in both languages and I was just lucky he was here. My family couldn’t afford the trip, so they saw me off in Tokyo.”

“That must have been hard,” Tomo said. “I was lucky in that my parents were able to travel here with me. But, of the three of us, my English is the best so it was my responsibility to get us where we were going.”

“Sounds hard,” Eiji said.

“Come on, Eiji-sempai,” Echizen said from the hall, “let’s get your bags stored and then we can go out again if you want to.”

Eiji looked over at his new roommate. “Would you like to come along with us, Tomo-kun?” he asked. “We’ll be exploring and having dinner.”

“Thank you, but no,” Tomo said. “I have some studying to do. I’ll see you when you get back, Kikumaru-kun. Nice to have met you, Echizen-kun. Good luck with your tennis.”

Echizen bowed and grabbed two of the bags. “Sempai, I don’t like him,” he said once they were clear of the room. “He’s too, too. Just too.”

“Ochibi, that doesn’t make any sense,” Eiji said.

“Just don’t let your guard down.”

“Nyahaaa, okay, Tezuka,” Eiji laughed.

Echizen didn’t join in. He had been serious.


	7. Chapter 7

After the boys had stored Eiji’s bags away safely and Eiji collected his key cards to get him back into the school in case they stayed out late, Echizen looked up at his hyper sempai. “So how do you want to spend the afternoon?”

“Nya, well, we probably shouldn’t get too far away from the school, so what is there to do around here?” Eiji asked. “You mentioned a zoo?

“It’s on the other side of the park,” Echizen said. “But there’s also a small museum I need to visit as long as I’m here. A friend of mine asked me to get him something there.”

“Okay, I’ll follow you,” Eiji said.

Echizen grinned and started back towards Marylebone Street. There really wasn’t a good way to get from the school to Baker Street. While he really wanted to go into the wax museum as well, he’d checked the prices the night before when he found out what part of London they would be in and, while he had enough money to go, didn’t think that Eiji would and didn’t want to try and make his sempai come up with the entry fee. The museum, for Kevin, and then zoo would be enough to make the rest of their day fun. Plus, Echizen liked spending time with his catlike sempai. Eiji was always bouncy and had a way of making people smile no matter what their mood was. Granted, Echizen didn’t like the constant glomp hugs, but he could deal with them if he had to.

“The Sherlock Holmes museum, Ochibi?” Eiji asked when he realized where they were going. “I didn’t realize you were a fan.”

“Che, I’m not,” Echizen replied. “But Kevin is and he wasn’t able to qualify for the rounds here, so he’s stuck in the states and asked me to come get him a t-shirt or something. So we don’t even have to go into the museum, just the gift shop.”

“Nya, okay, whatever you want to do,” Eiji grinned.

Echizen pulled his hat down over his eyes, sighed and opened the door. A small shop full of books and other Sherlock Holmes items met his eyes and he had to bite back a groan. The things he did for his friends. Kevin was going to owe him big when he saw the boy again.

While Echizen was looking at the t-shirts trying to decide on a color, Eiji found the books and picked out a couple, checking that he had the money to get them and dinner after they bought tickets for the zoo. He did, but only just. Eiji realized the books were probably beyond his current reading abilities, but thought they would be fun to work through to learn some new words. And he managed to get his package into his backpack - which he had brought with him - before Echizen saw them.

“Are you ready, sempai?” Echizen asked, sticking his own bag into his backpack.

“Sure,” Eiji replied with a grin. “Do you know where we’re going?”

“Roughly. They told me it’s about twenty minutes on foot through the park, so I thought we would just go ahead and walk.”

“Sounds like fun,” Eiji said.

The pair walked out and turned to the left, heading towards Regents Park, not realizing that there were few gates into the park and they would have to walk a little before getting into the park itself. And then that the park was built on a circle grid, so it was four times as long across to the zoo than they had been told. Luckily they were both in good shape, so they didn’t feel tired when they got to the zoo.

“Nya, Ochibi, look,” Eiji said once they were inside, “there’s something pink in with the penguins.”

“It’s a pelican,” Echizen replied. “They’re normally in St. James’s park. I went to see them fed one day.”

“I didn’t know they were pink too,” Eiji grinned, digging for his camera. He had promised his family pictures of anything he did so they would know what was going on in his life while he was away from Japan. It was something he planned to do as much as possible.

Echizen glanced up at his sempai. “So when do you think you’re going to hear from him?”

“Who?” Eiji asked. He was more focused on the animals than the conversation.

“Niou.”

“Eh?”

“Come on, sempai. When do you think he’s going to let you know where he is?” Echizen pushed. “From what you told me, the two of you got to be good friends and I don’t think he’s going to just vanish from your life. So, when do you think you’ll find out where he is?”

Eiji sighed. “When he’s settled, I would imagine,” he said. “Niou will probably send me an email and let me know which country he’s in and how school is going. I know he really didn’t want to leave Rikkai, but he was so hurt by his team that he ran.”

“And you don’t blame him.”

“Would you?”

“Not really,” Echizen conceded. “That sort of betrayal cuts deeply and isn’t forgiven easily. But he’ll have to talk with them some day.”

“I think he knows that too,” Eiji said. He stopped and stared at the tigers with wide eyes. He loved cats. “Nya, Ochibi, where’s Karupin?”

“At the hotel. He travels with me,” Echizen replied. “I don’t demand a lot from them, but I stood firm on this one. He’s fine.”

“Good. I’m glad you have someone you can travel with and talk to and trust all the time,” Eiji said. He didn’t have too high of an opinion of the younger man’s father.

Echizen sighed. “You’re not dodging this question, sempai,” he said.

“What question?”

The younger boy gave up. “Do you want pizza for dinner, sempai?”

“Sure,” Eiji grinned, and followed Echizen towards the restaurant.  
**********************

It wasn’t that Eiji didn’t want to talk about Niou, he did, but he also knew that his friend wouldn’t like being talked about and that was what kept his mouth sealed on all but the most basic answers. He was a little worried that he hadn’t received an email or call from Niou, but reasoned that the other boy was busy getting settled in to his new school and working out his new home, much as Eiji was trying to do. Would it have been easier to stay in Japan and go to high school there? Eiji wasn’t sure. For the basics, such as daily communication and understanding what was said around him, yes, it would have been. But at the same time he would have been closer to Oishi and felt the constant pull of the bond he held with his old doubles partner, the bond that let them become one on the tennis court whenever they wanted to, and it would have been a distraction. And Eiji really wanted to be able to date while in high school, and knew that not only would his family not have truly approved of his choice, Oishi would have always been lurking in Eiji’s mind, keeping him from truly enjoying everything his boyfriend would have to offer.

He finished up the day with Echizen, making sure to get the other boy’s cell phone number and game schedule so, if he had a free moment, he would be able to go and cheer Echizen on, and went back to the dorm.

Tomo-kun looked up from the book he was reading when Eiji closed the door quietly behind him. “Your friend didn’t come back with you,” he said.

“No, he had to get back to the hotel to check in with his coach,” Eiji replied. He tucked his bag into the closet and sat down on his bed. “But I’m sure I’ll see him again before he leaves the country for his next set of games.”

“I couldn’t help but feel that he doesn’t like me,” Tomo said.

“Echizen doesn’t like anyone,” Eiji grinned. “Please don’t take it personally, it’s just how he is.”

Tomo nodded and closed his book. “Kikumaru-kun, there is something important that I need to tell you,” he said. “But I need your word that you won’t tell another person until I tell you it’s okay.”

Eiji’s eyes went wide and he nodded. “Whatever you need,” he said seriously.

“Thank you, I had a feeling that I could trust you.” Tomo stood and walked over to Eiji’s bed sitting down next to him. He grinned and leaned over next to Eiji’s ear. “Puri.”

“Niou!” Eiji laughed grabbing the other boy in a tight hug. “You sneak! You didn’t tell me that you were going to be applying here. I didn’t think they offered scholarships to this school.”

Tomo’s image vanished, replaced by platinum hair and sneaky blue-green eyes. “They made an exception for me,” he said. He returned Eiji’s hug. “They wanted me for their tennis program and, when you mentioned the school, I decided that I wanted us to try doubles together here.”

“Nya, I wish you had told me,” Eiji said. He pulled back just enough to look at Niou’s face. “But I understand why you didn’t. You were worried that your old team would be able to figure out where you are and come talk to you.”

“Exactly. I don’t want anyone to know where I am,” Niou said. “I heard you talking in the room earlier today and cast an illusion over myself before I came in because I wasn’t sure if I could trust that brat or not. But you, I know I can trust you.”

“Thanks,” Eiji grinned. He cuddled back in against Niou. He felt like he had just received the best present ever. “So the school knows you as yourself, but you want to be Tomo-kun in anything that goes back to Japan?”

“For now, yes,” Niou said. He ran a hand through Eiji’s red hair. “So, how about it? Do you want to try doubles with me?”

“Nya, of course I do,” Eiji said. “Niou, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Did you ever kiss me?”

Niou paused for a second. He hadn’t known that the other boy had felt the kisses he’d given him before sneaking out of the house back in Japan. The real question in his mind was, did Eiji mind? He knew that Eiji loved Oishi, but that could have been just a one on one love and not a general indication that Eiji liked boys.

“Niou?”

“I did,” he admitted. “Does that bother you?”

“No,” Eiji said. He pulled back and smiled up at Niou. “I was hoping that I hadn’t been imaging things, but didn’t know how to ask because of what you had just been through.”

“I don’t know what to believe now,” Niou sighed. He moved back and tilted Eiji’s head up. “But I would like to see where this goes, Eiji. I like how you feel here.”

Eiji smiled and let his eyes close as Niou’s mouth slowly covered his own. Eiji was glad the other boy had a little more experience so he didn’t have to worry about worrying about what to do. He just let himself relax and sank into the kiss. Niou’s lips moved slowly over his, caressing and teasing until Eiji’s mouth relaxed and Niou was able to slide his tongue slowly inside. As Niou’s tongue slid over his own, Eiji’s hands tightened on the other boy’s shoulders and he pushed in closer.

The slightly younger boy moved so that Eiji was lying back on his bed and shifted over him, settling between Eiji’s legs without mishap on the first try. He broke the kiss and stared down into the catlike eyes gazing back at him. “We really should stop here, Eiji,” he said. “The school is not the place to do this.”

“Nya, do you think they would separate us if they found out?” Eiji asked.

“It’s possible, so we have to be really careful,” Niou replied. He leaned down and kissed the corner of Eiji’s mouth gently. “And go really slow. There’s a lot you have to learn and a lot I have to let go of.”

“I know,” Eiji said. He wrapped Niou in a hug and cuddled him as he rolled so they were lying side by side. “But this is okay for now, isn’t it?”

“It’s perfect,” Niou smiled.


	8. Chapter 8

Tezuka wasn’t surprised when he opened his email and found a message from Eiji that, from the look of things, had been sent to all the Seigaku (former) regulars. He allowed himself a small smile and opened the message, clicking on the link he found in there. It took him to a free blog page and he saw that Eiji had already made a couple of entries. He nodded to himself, it was a good way to keep everyone up to date on what was going on with him without having to send out mass emails all the time. Tezuka read through Eiji’s talking about his flight to England, meeting up with Echizen and the day they had spent together.

Eiji didn’t do more than mention him, but he had a room mate from Japan, a boy named Tomo-kun. Tezuka bit back a sigh. He was relieved that it wasn’t Niou in the room with Eiji. He couldn’t help but worry about what the neko boy would do in trying to get over his feelings for Oishi. A part of him wished he never promised to keep Eiji’s secret from Oishi, but he also knew that telling Oishi something so shocking should be Eiji’s choice and no one else’s. Tezuka found the comment link and left a note for Eiji telling him that he had the page bookmarked and would check it every few days. Then he turned to completing his homework before he went out to play tennis for a while.

*************************

Niou woke up and immediately realized that he had never made it over to his own bed the night before. Eiji was curled up against him, holding onto him tightly and Niou sighed. He had so many confused thoughts about the other boy, about what had happened to him back at Rikkai and how he still felt about Yukimura, but at the same time Niou slept better the previous night than he had in a month. He knew that it had to do with being held, sharing a bed with someone. The one thing that Niou didn’t want to do was use Eiji and hurt the boy’s feelings. He knew that Eiji had had a crush on Oishi, one that hadn’t been revealed or talked about, just buried for the sake of their friendship. Niou knew that they would have a lot to talk about, both of them opening up more than they had already so that they could know what was happening between them. He bit his lip when Eiji shifted against him and tried not to groan. It was going to be really hard to behave for however long it took them to work through the past, but Niou was not going to touch Eiji until he was sure it was what the other boy really wanted. And told him when they weren’t in bed together.

“Nya,” Eiji murmured. “Niou, what time is it?”

“Probably time to get up and shower,” Niou replied with a small smile. “We have a couple of meetings this morning with teachers to start getting ready for classes next week, but our afternoon is free. We should go out into the city and explore.”

“Okay,” Eiji said. He yawned and then grinned. “Where are the showers?”

“You didn’t look around yesterday?”

“Not really.”

Niou laughed. “Okay, get your stuff and I’ll show you.” He kissed Eiji’s nose. “You are too cute for words, Eiji.”

“Nya,” Eiji said ducking his head. Niou laughed and tilted Eiji’s head back up, kissing him softly. The neko boy moaned softly and relaxed into the kiss, letting Niou take control and just went with the flow.

“We can’t,” Niou whispered. “Not yet, Eiji. No matter how much I want to, or how much you want to. It’s just too soon.”

“I know,” Eiji said. “But that doesn’t mean that I have to like it.”

*************************

The meetings with the teachers were informative and interesting for both boys. They received their class schedules, nothing that they shared several classes and both had tennis on there as well. They ate lunch in the cafeteria and then, after grabbing their bags and some money, went to the tube station and out into the city. Eiji had a notebook with him and he spent some time writing down words that he didn’t know so he would be able to look them up when they got back to the dorm that night. He knew that he needed to work on his English as steadily as he could to be ready for classes and tennis practice, but it was such a daunting task that he was nervous about it.

They got off the train at the Tower Hill station and followed the signs down and around to the Tower of London. They paid for the guided tour and waited by the gate, just listening to the flow of the conversations around them. A large number of the tourists were native English speakers, although neither Niou nor Eiji could tell what country they were from. Their guide finally appeared and gathered the group together just inside the first set of gates to talk.

“If you turn around and look at the hill behind us, you will see a tall white building,” the guard said about five minutes into his talk about the history of the Tower. Everyone in the group turned to look. “It has absolutely nothing to do with what I’m talking about, it’s just a pretty building,” the guard continued. “However it does sit on the site of a place we’re going to be talking about. Now if you’ll follow me, we’ll go inside.”

Eiji leaned over to Niou. “I don’t get it,” he whispered.

“I really don’t either,” Niou admitted. “But I think he was trying to be funny. It must lose something in translation.”

“I suppose.” They trailed the group, looking around and doing their best to understand what was being said. What Niou could understand of the history was interesting, if bloody and violent, and he wondered if they would be allowed to wander around alone or if they had to stay with the group the whole time. He really didn’t like the looks he and Eiji were getting from a couple of the people in with them.

After a short walk around the grounds and a stop in the chapel, the guide told them that they could go where they wanted in the public buildings, reminding them yet again that some areas were not open to the public because they were still in use, and to enjoy and ask questions. Niou grabbed Eiji’s hand and led him off towards the White Tower. “Niou, what’s going on?” Eiji asked as they entered and saw all the armor on display. “Whoa, cool.”

“There were some people in our tour group that were eying us,” Niou replied. “And it was making me nervous, so I thought it was best to split when we had the chance. We can walk around and explore on our own now.”

“Okay,” Eiji said. He dug in his pocket and pulled out his notebook. “I’m going to have to get more of these.”

“We’ll find you some,” Niou grinned. “Eiji, while we’re here, do you want to talk a little?”

“Sure,” Eiji said. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Well, how do you feel about Oishi?” Niou asked. “If we decide to go forward with a relationship, are you going to have regrets about it?”

“Nya, I’m not even sure how I feel about Oishi,” Eiji replied. “I really did think that I love him, but the last month I was at home and then even recently, I’ve started to wonder if I do or if I just thought I did because he was something that I couldn’t have.”

Niou nodded. “And the two of you were closer than most doubles pairs ever reach with synchro,” he said. “What are you feeling now?”

“I miss him,” Eiji said. “But I miss Momo and Tezuka and Fuji too. I really wanted to be able to keep playing tennis with Oishi and it does hurt that he decided to stop playing without talking with me about it first. I thought that our pairing was as important to him as it was to me, but I guess it wasn’t. Maybe I should have noticed that something was wrong when he started dating that girl, but I thought that he just had too much on his mind to do much away from school.”

Niou put an arm around Eiji’s shoulders and squeezed. “If we were still in Japan I would go and prank him,” he smirked. “I’ve always known that Yagyuu wanted to best me at tennis, to show that he’s more powerful than I am on the court. Honestly, right now, he probably is, but I’m still growing and I think that I’ll end up with more power than him in the long term. I don’t know whether I can believe Yukimura’s emails saying that everything that happened was a lie thought up by Yagyuu and helped a little by Sanada. Part of me would like to, it really would, because that would mean that I could still trust Yukimura. But how do I know that Yukimura isn’t still lying to me just to try and get me back on the team with them. Yukimura is obsessed with winning Nationals this year, to prove that last year was a fluke and, without Echizen around, it’s possible. Yukimura should be healthy and they’ll be able to play like they used to.”

“But they won’t have you,” Eiji pointed out. “And you’re the most powerful player they had, so if you’re gone, what chance do they have?”

“I really shouldn’t have let Yukimura know I’m immune to his powers,” Niou sighed. They stepped out into the sunlight and crossed to the building that housed the Crown Jewels. “I really didn’t want to let him know that I’m more powerful than he is, because a large part of his presence on the courts is believing that he is the most powerful one there. Plus, he doesn’t remember that tennis is fun. That’s one reason Echizen was able to beat him so easily in the end.”

“Do you think we’ll be able to play doubles together, Niou?”

“Yeah, I do,” Niou said. “We’ll have to make some adjustments, but I’ve seen you play back from the net and know you can play seriously when you need to. And I’ll be able to support your play style from the back with no problems. It’ll be nice to be the one in the back for most of the game.”

Eiji looked over at Niou as they walked past the video screens talking about the history of the jewels. “When you were playing as Yagyuu, you played at the back, didn’t you?” he asked. “I never was able to understand exactly how the switch worked between the two of you.”

“My job was to watch and work out the weakness of the other players while Yagyuu supported me for the first game,” Niou said. They stepped onto a slowly moving sidewalk like device and went in to look at the Crown Jewels. “Because they never thought that the one at the back would be able to watch them that closely. Then the rest of it was using the weakness against them and also profiting from the shock when Yagyuu and I switched back. There were even times when we started as ourselves, switched halfway through and the switched back again. But those matches were harder on me because it meant I had to cast more illusions than normal and for longer.”

“But you managed it,” Eiji said. “That should have been a hint for your team that you are powerful. Where do you want to go now?”

“Let’s just walk around the grounds for a bit,” Niou said. “There are some other places we can go in and look at if we want to, but it’s a nice enough day out and this place has a good feel for the most part.”

Eiji looked up as they passed one of the towers. “Yeah, mostly,” he agreed. “I think we need to talk about playing a game in the next day or so to see how easily we can meld our play styles.”

“Trust me, Eiji, we’ll be fine,” Niou grinned. “You just focus on your play style and know that I’ll be behind you as support no matter what. Beyond that, I think you’re right though. The coaches are going to want to get a look at us in the next day or so anyway. Can you play singles long enough to show them what you can do?”

“Totally,” Eiji grinned. “I just don’t have enough stamina to play singles on a regular basis. My talent and power is as a doubles player.”

“Then we’ll just have to see what we can do,” Niou grinned. He glanced at a sign. “Come on, let’s go see if we can solve the mystery of the two princes.”

************************

When they got back to their dorm after dinner, Eiji updated his new blog with pictures and talked about his day, making sure to say Tomo-kun rather than Niou when talking about who he’d spent the day with. He didn’t blame Niou in the least for wanting to stay hidden from everyone in Japan, although he also knew that eventually they would have to tell someone where Niou was, most likely after they started playing together and people started talking about them. A small part of Eiji was worried about how his friends would react to him lying to them about who his room mate was, that they would be mad at him for keeping something that they would consider serious a secret. 

“Hey Niou, did you want to check anything on the computer?” Eiji asked turning around.

“Nah, not tonight,” Niou replied. “I’ll take a look some time tomorrow if I remember. I’m more interested in playing tennis right now.”

“We can go out early tomorrow if you want to,” Eiji said. He shut off the computer and moved to flop on his bed. “It might not hurt to just volley for a while and get some exercise.”

Niou joined him on the bed, kissing him softly. “And we need to talk a little more.”

“We can go back out into the city if you want to,” Eiji said. “Do you want to sleep here again?”

“Do you mind?”

“Of course not, but we should probably lock the door just to be safe,” Eiji said. “There aren’t rules about that, are there?”

“Nope,” Niou grinned. He pushed up and locked the door quickly before he crawled back into the bed next to Eiji. “If it’s something we both want, Eiji, I promise we’ll do more one of these days.”

“Okay.”


	9. Chapter 9

Yukimura was not happy. He’d lost his boyfriend because of a stupid misunderstanding that he wasn’t able to correct before Niou vanished. No one knew where Niou was, or if they knew they weren’t telling. Yukimura had even tried to talk to Niou’s family, but it was pretty obvious that they were just happy to have Niou gone and didn’t care where he was or what he was doing. He’d tried to get the information out of the newly returned Tezuka, but the Seigaku player wouldn’t tell him anything. It never occurred to Yukimura that Tezuka might not know where Niou was. All Yukimura knew for sure was that Tezuka knew where Eiji was and was in touch with him, and Eiji knew where Niou was. It didn’t take a genius to connect the dots and work out that Tezuka knew where Niou was. Eiji would have mentioned it. He didn’t seem like the type of boy who would be able to keep secrets. 

Yagyuu had stayed with the tennis team, in spite of Yukimura’s best efforts to get rid of him. To make matters even worse, he seemed to have become one of the buchou’s favorite players and had been teamed up with a junior for doubles. The three demons had taken three of the starter positions almost upon arriving, everyone had heard rumors of their power, but Yukimura had been hoping to keep Yagyuu out of a starting position for at least a year. He wanted to punish the other boy for what had happened, but Yukimura didn’t have the power - yet - that he had on the junior high team and had to listen to what the buchou said. He knew it wouldn’t be long before he was back in power, no one would be able to keep the three demons down for long, but Yukimura didn’t like it at all. He felt like a seventh grader again, having to fight for a position in spite of how strong he was. It was almost as if everyone who had been on the team with him back in middle school had forgotten everything he had done for the team, lost their respect for him and put him back into the bracket that said loser. Yukimura looked around the courts and saw that there were a couple of players who thought they were the strongest just standing around watching practice. He smiled to himself and picked up his racket. It wouldn’t take long to beat everyone back down to where they belonged.

And then he could figure out what he wanted to do with Yagyuu.

**********************

Tezuka was at practice when he heard a familiar voice talking with the coach. He looked around and saw Oishi standing by the fence. He nodded to his friend and turned to finishing his match. The team was weaker than Tezuka would have liked to see and wondered how he could help them improve when he wasn’t in the position of buchou. He bit back a sigh and moved towards the fence. “Tezuka.”

“Oishi.”

“Have you heard from Eiji?” Oishi asked handing the other boy a water bottle.

“A couple of emails and I read his blog every few days,” Tezuka said. “He seems to be happy in England, even with his worries about the language barrier.”

“I just can’t help but feel like I drove him to it,” Oishi said. He sat down next to Tezuka and put his face in his hands. “When I got the letter saying I would be able to get into the school I wanted, I didn’t even think about it. I accepted and then realized that it meant I wouldn’t be able to play tennis with Eiji again. I know I hurt him, but I didn’t expect him to leave the country.”

“What did he say to you before he left?”

“To work hard and become the best doctor I could. He wouldn’t even talk about himself, or what he was planning. Tezuka, I’m worried about him. He started hanging out with Niou from Rikkai and something changed in him. But he hasn’t answered my emails and I don’t have a phone number for him.”

“He’s probably just busy, Oishi. It can’t be easy starting high school in a new country and a new language,” Tezuka said. “And he’s been spending a lot of time with his roommate, Tomo. I would imagine that they’re exploring London as much as they can before classes start and they’re buried in work. Give him time and I’m sure he’ll write to you.”

Oishi looked over at Tezuka. “He lied to me, Tezuka.”

“About what?”

“I don’t know, but I know he’s hiding something from me. I just don’t know what it is. Why did he have to leave Japan?”

Tezuka sighed. “Oishi, the two of you linked closely together when you entered synchro. Did you ever think that the link you share would bind you together so much that he would have problems playing at his highest level with anyone else?” he asked. “And that to be able to play again he would have to be as far away from you as he could be?”

“What?”

“Eiji left to be able to do what he loves without holding you back,” Tezuka said. “He’s hoping that he’ll be able to advance with a new partner, maybe even farther than the two of you ever managed, but to do that he has to be away from you. That link has to be broken and distance is the only way to do that.”

“Why didn’t I know about this?” Oishi asked. “Why didn’t anyone tell me that synchro had this kind of power over play?”

“Would it have made any difference had you known?” Tezuka asked in reply. “You have your dream, your girlfriend and your life to live. Eiji did know and he decided to let you do what you needed to do without putting the extra burden on you. The choice about tore him apart, but he made it without a thought to what it would mean to him in the long run.”

Oishi looked up, tears in his eyes. “Why wouldn’t he talk to me?” he asked. “Why didn’t he just tell me about all of this. It had to kill him moving away from his family.”

“When would he have had a chance to talk to you?”

“What?”

“Since Nationals you’ve been too busy for anything,” Tezuka said. “I spent more time with Eiji than you did. He told me that you weren’t even answering your phone when he called. How was he supposed to tell you about all of this, Oishi?”

The other boy fell silent. Tezuka felt bad for just dumping everything on Oishi at once, but he was also being careful not to let Eiji’s big secret drop. The last thing Oishi needed to know was how his former doubles partner really felt. And Tezuka was so focused on Oishi that he didn’t notice the approach of another boy until he spoke. “Saa, Eiji made his school tennis team.”

“Fuji.”

“He emailed me yesterday,” Fuji said, eyes slit open. “He spent the day at the Tower of London with Tomo-kun, but he had meetings in the morning and got his schedule. He hasn’t been paired with anyone, I think his first practice is today, but he’s excited to be back on the tennis court and happy that he’ll be able to play again.”

“He didn’t mention the schedule on his blog,” Tezuka said. “Although it did sound like he was having fun with his roommate.”

“Saa,” Fuji smiled. “Tomo-kun sounds a lot like you, Tezuka.”

“And what does that mean?” Tezuka asked.

“Serious and studious,” Fuji replied. “The complete opposite of our Eiji. I’m surprised they’re getting along as well as they are.”

Tezuka bit back a smile. “You know how Eiji is, Fuji. He’ll make friends with anyone if you give him enough time.”

“If he’s emailing you, Fuji, why wouldn’t he take two seconds and reply to one of my messages?” Oishi asked.

“Fuji,” Tezuka said sharply, recognizing the look in his friend’s eyes. 

“Mou, Tezuka, you take all the fun out of life,” Fuji said. “You’re the one who made the promise, not me.”

“You should still respect Eiji’s wishes,” Tezuka said. “And that should have included not mentioning anything around Oishi.”

Fuji smiled and tilted his head to the side. “Tezuka, you know that I’m a firm believer in telling the truth whenever I have the chance.”

“When it’ll make more trouble, you mean,” Tezuka sighed. “Fine, Fuji, do what you want, but I’ll make sure that Eiji knows you’re the one who opened his mouth.”

“He’ll forgive me.”

Tezuka snorted to show what he thought of that and stood. “Oishi, you need to give Eiji time to get settled no matter what this brat tells you,” he said before he left. He was one of the rare ones who did have a number for Eiji and went to send his friend a short text, asking for a call when Eiji had a chance.

“So what’s this big secret?” Oishi asked looking over at Fuji. “What would Eiji think he had to hide from me?”

Fuji sat down next to Oishi. “That should be obvious, Oishi,” he said. “Eiji loved you, but when you started dating that girl from your class, he hid his true feelings from you so you wouldn’t be disgusted with him or feel like you had to do something. Didn’t you ever notice that Eiji did that? He would bottle his feelings up inside so he wouldn’t inconvenience anyone around him. Echizen was going to talk to him about it when they met up in London, but my guess is that Eiji won’t listen. I’ve only known him to speak up about his heart twice, and one of those was when you lost to Tezuka to decide the team for Nationals. I don’t know why, but Eiji would rather hurt than make those around him feel awkward about anything.”

“Wait, Eiji is gay?” Oishi asked. “How do you know?”

“He’s my best friend,” Fuji replied. “Besides, it wasn’t hard to work out how he really felt about you. I cornered him and made him tell me about it.”

“He loves me?”

“Saa, I would think loved is more likely at this point, but yes,” Fuji said. He tilted his head. “But you have your girlfriend, and Eiji knows how important she is to you and he didn’t want to burden you with any of this. Think about how that would be, Oishi, to love someone and not be able to tell them because you’re scared they’ll hate you or push you away because of it. To not be able to tell them the truth because you don’t want to trouble them.”

“But, I mean, it’s Eiji, shouldn’t he, why wouldn’t he?”

“Exactly.”

Oishi paused for a moment, letting the new information sink in. “I’ll email him when I get home,” he finally said. 

“What are you going to tell him?” Fuji opened his eyes and looked at the other boy. “If you’re going to hurt him, Oishi, I’ll make you regret it.”

“I just want to talk to him,” Oishi said. “That’s all.”

“If I hear you’ve hurt him....”

“Fuji.”

“I’m serious, Oishi. I told you this so you would understand a little more about why Eiji left and why he’s not talking to you. I didn’t tell you so you could tear him apart.”

Oishi sighed. “I just don’t know, Fuji.”

“Then you had better figure it out before you talk to Eiji. Or else you might never be able to talk to him again.”


	10. Chapter 10

Niou woke up warm and feeling safe. He liked being able to sleep with someone. And, remarkably enough, someone who wasn’t Yukimura. His boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, jerk, whatever Yukimura was now, he hadn’t liked to cuddle at night, saying it suffocated him too much. Niou had been allowed in the bed with Yukimura, but he couldn’t cuddle up to the other boy. He’d slept well enough, but not nearly as well as he had been the past two nights with Eiji. The neko-boy was a cuddler and it made Niou feel safe. He pressed a soft kiss to the top of Eiji’s head and closed his eyes again, thinking. He really was putting on a bit of an act, wanting to help Eiji out as much as he could. Niou knew that he wanted to date the neko, had wanted to since that first night they’d spent together. Eiji had a huge heart and Niou wanted to know that he had an extra special spot in there. But at the same time, he wanted to know that dating him was what Eiji wanted and he wasn’t just doing it because he thought it was what Niou wanted him to do. Niou had noticed that Eiji was a little too easy going and went with whatever people said around him unless it was super important.

“Nya,” Eiji muttered, rolling over and cuddling closer into Niou’s side.

Niou realized that Eiji had the problem that so many boys their age woke up with and sighed. He wanted to touch it, bring Eiji that pleasure so badly, but knew he shouldn’t. It would be wrong to do anything so intimate so soon and might shade Eiji towards the wrong decision. Niou swallowed hard, hell, he wanted to duck down under the covers and suck Eiji to climax, to hear the red head moaning his name as he worked. His body started to respond to the thoughts and Niou sighed. It was just wrong on so many levels.

“Niou?” Eiji asked sleepily.

“Morning,” Niou replied.

It took a minute, but Niou could tell exactly when Eiji realized the state his body was in because his face flushed red and he ducked down, hiding against Niou’s neck. Niou smiled and rubbed Eiji’s back softly. “Don’t be embarrassed,” he whispered. “It happens.”

“It’s just never happened to me when I’ve been around someone else,” Eiji replied. “I’ll be okay, just give me a minute.”

Niou’s hand slipped down a little more and he debated with himself for a second. “We could do something about it, Eiji,” he said. “We shouldn’t, but we could.”

“Huh?”

“Well, what do you normally do?”

“Just wait and it goes away.”

“This is more fun.” Niou took Eiji’s hand and guided it under the elastic of his boxers. Eiji gasped as he touched Niou’s cock for the first time, but wrapped his fingers around the heat loosely. Niou moved his own hand to wrap around Eiji’s erection and then nudged him with his nose. “Look at me, Eiji.”

Eiji looked up and Niou caught his mouth in a soft kiss as he started to move his hand. Eiji’s free hand went to Niou’s shoulder and gripped there before he started to stroke Niou. He didn’t know what had happened to moving slowly, or not doing things before they talked about things, but he didn’t care at that point. The sensation of touch was electric and he wanted more. Eiji didn’t know exactly what he wanted, he just knew that he wanted more of something. But he also knew that Niou wasn’t going to give it to him, at least not that morning. He moaned into Niou’s mouth and pushed in, trying for a little more contact between them. Niou’s free hand cupped the back of Eiji’s head and slipped his tongue into the other boy’s mouth, hoping to muffle things a little.

They both climaxed at about the same time, neither needing much stimulation to push them over the edge. Niou broke the kiss to gasp for air and cuddled Eiji in against him. He really didn’t want to fall so completely for the other boy, to take the risk, but he also knew that Eiji wouldn’t hurt him like he’d been hurt in the past. The boy thought about others more than he thought about himself and would be almost overly considerate of his boyfriend. They would just have to talk about it later in the day.

“Does this mean we’ve moved beyond friends?” Eiji murmured, pressing a kiss to Niou’s throat.

“We still have to talk through a few things,” Niou said. “But I think our hearts are telling us the same thing, Eiji. And I doubt we’ll be able to fight it for long.”

“Okay,” Eiji said. “Are we still gonna play tennis this morning?”

“Of course,” Niou smiled. He kissed Eiji again softly. “There are things that are more important than personal concerns. Come on, let’s get cleaned up and head to the courts.”

Eiji grinned and stretched, not really wanting to get up, but he knew they had to. He freed his hand and got out of bed, glancing down at his phone as he moved to get his stuff for the shower. “I wonder who sent me a text,” he said. He wiped his hand on his t-shirt and picked up the phone. “Huh, Tezuka? I wonder what he wants?”

“Tezuka sent you a message?” Niou asked looking over Eiji’s shoulder.

“Yeah, he’s back in Japan and at school,” Eiji replied. “Huh, he wants me to call him when I have a chance to. I wonder what happened.”

“Only one way to find out.” Niou sat down on his bed and picked up one of his books. “I’ll keep quiet.”

Eiji nodded and dialed Tezuka’s number. He wasn’t sure if his buchou - it didn’t matter if he played for Seigaku or not, Eiji would always consider Tezuka his buchou - would be in class or not, but figured he could leave a message if he had to.

“Eiji.”

“Nya, Tezuka, is everyone okay?” Eiji asked. He sat down at his desk. “Did something happen?”

“Everyone is fine, Eiji,” Tezuka replied. “But, yes, something did happen and I wanted to be able to tell you about it before you checked your email. Oishi came to see us at practice today.”

“Oishi.”

Niou looked up sharply at the mention of the other boy’s name, but kept silent. He hadn’t cast his illusion to become Tomo and knew that Tezuka would recognize his voice. Why would Tezuka be calling to talk to Eiji about Oishi, and why did it have to happen on a morning when it felt like things were going to fall into place perfectly. He sighed and tried to go back to his book.

“Eiji, Fuji told Oishi the truth about how you feel,” Tezuka said. 

“He did what?” Eiji squeaked. 

“I’m sorry, Eiji, I tried to stop him, but you know how Fuji can be. He has his own agenda about everything and it doesn’t seem possible to stop him, no matter what you do.”

“But why would he do that?” Eiji asked. “I told him that I didn’t want Oishi to know the truth. Tezuka, I want to move on, no matter how I feel for Oishi, and wanted this to stay a secret.”

Tezuka sighed. “You’ve heard from Niou then.”

“Yeah,” Eiji said. “We’re going to get together over the holidays when we’re both back in Japan, but I think we’re going to be dating by then. So I really didn’t want Oishi to find out the real reason I left like I did.”

“I’ll deal with Fuji,” Tezuka said. “I’m sorry for all of this, Eiji. I don’t know what Oishi is going to do next, but I think he said something about emailing you. Will you try not to take anything he says in that email to heart? He was really upset when he was done talking with Fuji and I’m honestly not too sure what he was upset about.”

Eiji closed his eyes for a moment. “I’ll try,” he whispered. “Thanks for the warning, Tezuka. I have to go. I’ve got morning practice and need to get ready.”

“Yudan sezu ni ikou,” Tezuka said.

“I will. Talk to you later, Tezuka,” Eiji said. He closed the phone and all but jumped across the room and landed on the bed next to Niou. “Nya!”

Niou put his book down and leaned over so he could hug the other boy. “What happened, Eiji? I was trying not to listen, but I heard you mention Oishi.”

“Fuji told Oishi that I love him. I don’t even know that I still love him and Fuji told him,” Eiji all but wailed. “He promised me that he would never say a word and he broke it. He lied to me.”

“Oh Eiji,” Niou said. He pulled Eiji up and against his chest, running his fingers through the soft red hair. “What else did Tezuka say?”

“Not to take anything Oishi says too seriously,” Eiji whispered. “Do you think that means that Oishi hates me now?”

“No one could ever hate you, Eiji,” Niou said. “I think what Tezuka means is that Oishi is probably shocked by the news and is going to react before he thinks. I remember when I told Yukimura that I liked him and wondered if he wanted to go out to dinner with me.”

“What did he say?”

“He told me it was mean to play pranks with people’s hearts and to go run laps until I had learned my lesson,” Niou sighed. “It took me a month to convince him that I was serious, and even then, I knew that he didn’t really believe me for months after that. Maybe he never believed me at all. I don’t know any of the boys I was on the team with, I learned that the hard way.”

Eiji looked up and pressed a soft kiss to Niou’s cheek. “You’d never toy with anyone’s heart like that,” he said. “Nya, Yukimura is mean and stupid. They all are. I still think we should have thrown nuts at them and blamed the squirrels.” 

“Maybe when we go home,” Niou grinned. He had a feeling that he would never truly understand the depths to Eiji, no matter how long they knew each other, or dated. “Do you want me to read the email first?”

“No, it’s something I need to do,” Eiji said. “But tonight. I don’t want to ruin our day when we have plans.”

“Okay, whatever you want to do,” Niou smiled. “I’ll support you, as long as you don’t hide from me.”

“I won’t,” Eiji said. “I guess we have to get up, don’t we?”

“Yeah, we should. We need to get to the courts,” Niou said. “Let’s go show them what we can do.”

Eiji nodded and leaned up for one last kiss. “Okay.”


	11. Chapter 11

Niou stood next to the coach for the school team and tried his hardest not to laugh. When they’d gotten to the courts, they’d found that it was going to be like junior high all over again, as the youngest they wouldn’t have a chance to play for at least half a year - or until the coach got a feel for how well they could do. Not even Niou’s special status with the school seemed to hold any weight with the coach, and he found it hard not to punch the man, especially when Eiji drooped more and more as he listened to the man.

Then Eiji had asked to play someone as a warm-up for the day. The coach had looked like he was going to refuse, but one of the seniors took the question as a challenge and agreed to the match. Only Niou had been able to see the gleam in Eiji’s eyes and knew what it meant.

But even Niou had to admit that five Eijis on the court during a singles match was a little much, especially the one who was trying to officiate the match. Eiji had grown so much stronger since they faced each other and Niou was really impressed. It was a useful technique, one that would work well with his illusions. “So, coach, still think that we’re worthless to the team?” he asked.

“That can’t be a legal move,” the coach replied.

“Sure it is, that’s just Eiji on the court,” Niou said. “As long as you don’t add another living person during play, it’s legal.”

“Well, we’ll see, but you haven’t showed me what you can do.”

Niou didn’t even move, but clouds of fog appeared around him, swirling as he cast an illusion over himself. The coach looked over and jumped when he saw a copy of himself standing there. It was like looking in a mirror. “I can do this while I’m playing,” Niou said in a perfect imitation of the coach’s voice. “I can switch between people, play as myself or anyone I want to. In fact, if you want, you’ll never know who I am.”

The coach wasn’t smart enough to pick up in the underlying threat in Niou’s voice. It was hard to tell if he was just shocked or wasn’t used to dealing with petenshis. “How is that useful?” he asked.

“How long of a list do you want?” Niou let the illusion drop and picked up his racket. “Who is your best doubles pair?”

“Over there on court one,” the coach said. “But I don’t know why you’d want to know that.”

“Oi, Eiji,” Niou called. “It’s time to show them what we can really do.”

“Hoi hoi!” Eiji called back. The multiple clones vanished and he smashed the ball in to win his match. Then he bounced over to Niou, a smile on his face. “What are we going to do?”

Niou smirked. “Win places on the team,” he said. “At least, I think that’s how it works here.”

“There’s no way you’re going to be able to beat our best players,” the coach said. 

“So you think,” Niou said. “How about this, if we do beat them, we take their place for the year.”

“It’s a moot point because you won’t beat them.”

“Just to make things interesting,” Niou said. “I mean, if you’re so sure that we won’t beat them, then what does it hurt to let us play them? We’re just stupid kids, right? So let’s make it a deal in writing, we beat the number one doubles team in a match right now, we take their place for a year.”

The coach started laughing, as did most of the kids on the court. But he pulled out a notebook and wrote down what Niou had said and signed it. Niou snatched it from his hand and put it in his pocket. “Just to be on the safe side,” he said. “Come on, Eiji, let’s play.”

Eiji looked at the coach, eyes serious for a moment, before he fell into step next to Niou. The platinum haired petenshi leaned in to whisper to Eiji as they walked, quickly outlining their play strategy for the match. Eiji started laughing about halfway to the court and nodded. “Let’s play,” Niou said to the seniors who were standing on court one.

The pair looked back at the coach and, at the nod, moved to the other side of the net and tossed a ball to Niou. “You guys can serve,” one of them called. “We’ll give you every handicap we can.”

Niou looked at the ball in his hand for a moment, then sea-green eyes came back up to stare across the net. “Heh,” he muttered. “Whatever. Kiku-chan, you ready.”

“Hoi-hoi,” Eiji replied. He took his spot by the net and got into position, waiting for Niou to serve. Eiji could feel energy flowing through the court and let it sweep him up. It was just the magic of the game and he was really glad to feel it again. He hadn’t felt the same since he’d last played with Oishi and smiled. It was time to find out what would happen if he game himself completely to a game with Niou.

They played their best, but quickly realized there was a reason the pair they were up against was ranked number one at the school. Eiji wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked back at Niou, knowing the score stood at five games to love in favor of the seniors. “Niou?” he asked.

“Why not,” Niou replied. He stood up straight and pointed his racket across the net at the smirking seniors. “Puri.”

“Nyahaaa,” Eiji replied.

The coach and everyone else on the courts watched, stunned as the new doubles pair took the next seven games without allowing the seniors a point. Eiji jumped and dove, looking almost like he was doing a floor number rather than playing a tennis match and Niou’s image flashed and blurred through players almost faster than the eye could follow, but always ending on himself for the final point until the seniors collapsed on the court, flinching when the match point ball landed between them with such precision that it whispered on both their arms. “Never underestimate the best,” Niou said cooly. He turned and looked at the coach. “I believe we had a deal.”

“Well, I,” the coach swallowed hard. The school team had been knocked out of the England competition the year before. He could see them winning that year if he let the new kids play. It wasn’t that hard a choice to make. “I think I would be stupid to let you sit on the sidelines for the year. You’ve made the starters.”

“Thank you,” Niou and Eiji chorused with a bow.

“It means extra practice,” one of the seniors managed from where he was still lying on the court. “I’m Thomas and I haven’t played a match like that in years.”

“It won’t be anything we can’t handle,” Eiji said with a smile. “Nice to meet you, I’m Eiji and this is Niou.”

The other boy looked at them a little closer. “Oh man, you’re from the top two teams in Japan,” he said. “I didn’t even recognize you at first. No wonder you’re so good. I hear that tennis in Japan is one of the hardest championships to win.”

“You have no idea,” Niou grinned. He and Eiji walked over to help the other boys up. “But we’re glad to be here now. Shall we work together to win?”

The former number one doubles pair smiled. “We like that attitude.”

***********************

Thomas and his partner, Allen, took Niou and Eiji to lunch at a pub near the British Museum and the four of them talked tennis for the whole afternoon, including the time spent in the museum. They were both British and it made the experience easier for Niou because Eiji wanted to know a lot about the exhibits in the museum and he knew that he wouldn’t have been able to answer them, while their new friends could. Niou also reflected, not for the first time, how easily Eiji made friends and how much easier it made life in the long run. He’d been worried when they’d turned the tables on the seniors and had known that it was very possible for things to go horribly wrong. But they got lucky, it seemed the coach had the same goals in mind as any tennis coach and wanted to win. And Thomas and Allen were just easy going guys who seemed to enjoy taking the younger boys under their wings for some things. Niou couldn’t help but worry that things were going to fall apart on them at some point. And he hadn’t forgotten about the possibility of an email from Oishi that was waiting innocently in Eiji’s inbox. That email could do more damage than losing on the courts that morning could have done. He would have been lying to himself if he said he didn’t have butterflies in his stomach when they got back to the dorm and Eiji went to the computer to update his blog.

“Nya, what’s the name of my doubles partner?” Eiji asked. “Ochibi heard you say that Tomo doesn’t know anything about tennis and I can’t use your name.”

Niou laughed. “I didn’t even think about that. Let’s make him British, a year older than you and named Larry,” he said. “His play style is all rounder, which will meld with your acrobatics and you guys got lucky today.”

“Okay,” Eiji grinned, typing furiously. “I wonder how long we can keep this up, Niou. Someone is going to figure out that you’re here and that you’re my partner.”

The petenshi stepped up behind the desk and ran his fingers through Eiji’s hair. “Hopefully both boyfriend and partner,” he said softly. “Eiji, I’m worried about letting anyone in close to me, you know that, but if you’ll give me time I think I’ll be able to open my heart to you.”

“I know,” Eiji said. He leaned back and looked up into Niou’s eyes. “I’ll be here waiting for you. Don’t worry about Oishi, Niou. I think my love for him was something that wasn’t strong after all and was based on our partnership on the court and wanting what I couldn’t have. And, depending on what he wrote to me, he might not be my friend after tonight.”

Niou kissed Eiji softly. “I still think I should read the letter first,” he said. “I don’t have such an emotional involvement in it, Eiji, and won’t be hurt by what he says. I don’t want you to be hurt more than you already have been today.”

“I want to be strong,” Eiji said. 

“You are strong, Eiji, but there’s a line between strong and stupid. I prove that. Let me do this for you?”

Eiji closed his eyes and nodded. “Let me finish this update and you can check my email,” he whispered. “Thank you, Niou.”

“For you, Eiji, I think I’d do anything,” Niou replied. He kissed Eiji again and stayed behind him, just running his fingers through the soft red hair, thinking about his feelings towards he neko boy. It wasn’t that Niou had forgotten Yukimura or what he had felt for his former buchou, but the betrayal from Rikkai had knifed through anything that had been there. Niou wasn’t one to forgive easily and he had been hurt badly by too many people to reflect on those emotions with more than bitterness at his own stupidity.

“Okay,” Eiji finally said. He stood up and gave Niou a quick hug before moving to his bed to start transcribing his words from the day into a larger notebook that he was making into more of a dictionary.

Niou took his place at the computer and opened Eiji’s email, well aware of the trust that the other boy was placing in him. Niou was known as the petenshi, he took pride in the title, but he knew that he would never pull another prank on Eiji. He took a quick look through the new emails. “You have one from your parents and one from your sister,” he said. “And, yep, one from Oishi. Actually, seven from Oishi. Does he always write this much?”

“Only lately,” Eiji replied. “It’s like I had to leave for him to notice me again.”

“That’s sad,” Niou said. “I’m gong to have to open all seven of them, Eiji.”

“I know, it’s okay.”

Niou nodded and started by clicking on the oldest of the emails. Truthfully he thought he knew which one it was, the newest of them all, but he didn’t want to risk missing the one he was looking for and letting Eiji find it instead. The first six were just pleas for Eiji to get in touch with him, asking for a phone call or a meeting on the chat room they had used in the past, but nothing bad. His respect for Eiji went up a little at how much the other boy had been dealing with since he left Japan from the one who was supposed to be his best friend. It almost bordered on stalking and, had they still been in Japan, Niou would have been a little more concerned about Oishi’s behavior. And it was with a heavy heart that he opened the seventh email.

_Eiji,_

_I went to Seigaku today and talked with both Tezuka and Fuji, as they were the only ones there. I wanted to know if either of them had heard anything from you other than the blog you’ve been doing and found out that you had emailed Tezuka and talked to Fuji a couple of times. I’ve been worried about you and trying to get you to talk to me, but I guess I know why you didn’t, now. Why didn’t you tell me that our combination had gone so deep, Eiji? Or that there was a risk that it could if we kept playing together. That’s something that should have been shared between us, a decision that we should have talked about before we went into the Nationals matches. I’m not sure how happy I am to know that we connected so deeply that you had to leave the country rather than talk to me about it._

_Fuji also told me something that he said you wanted kept a secret. I wasn’t sure, at first, why he was telling me about it until we were done talking. Eiji, I thought we were best friends. Why didn’t you tell me that your feelings towards me had changed? I can’t believe that you would lie to me about something so important. And then rather than face it, you ran away like a coward instead of talking to me. This is something that has an effect on both of us, Eiji, and it’s not something that you should just be making decisions about without talking to me._

“Pot meet kettle,” Niou muttered. “Hey Eiji, it’s not as bad as I was afraid of, but he’s putting a lot of blame on you for his own guilt. Do you mind if I forward it to my account and write back to him?”

“Nya, it’s okay,” Eiji said. “But I’m going to have to talk to him at some point. What did he say?”

“I think he’s guilty that he dumped you and so he’s blaming you for it all,” Niou said. “And I think you’ll see what I’m talking about if you want to read this.”

“Later,” Eiji said. “Go ahead and do what you want.”

Niou grinned and hit the forward button to send it to his email account before logging Eiji out of the system. He logged in under his own account and went right to his email, clearing out his inbox, ignoring the emails from Yukimura with ease and opened the forward from Eiji. He wasn’t too thrilled about Oishi or anyone else from Seigaku getting his email address, but he was mad and was going to lash out at someone.

_Oishi-kun,_

_Eiji forwarded this to me to ask for my advice. This is Niou and I’m telling you right now to grow up and quit trying to hurt people who are your friends. You know better than anyone, other than Tezuka and that brat, how easily Eiji takes things to heart and this email is all about hurting him rather than showing a real interest in wanting to talk to him as adults. I don’t blame him for leaving rather than talking to you. He wanted what was best for you, what you showed him you wanted by dumping him for your lame girlfriend and as a doubles partner. Eiji wants to grow and become a better tennis player and, if he had to leave Japan to do it, then you should respect his choice and stop harassing him every day to let him find new friends and experiences. You’re a bastard and this email only proves it. Stop forcing your feelings on Eiji, who is guilty only of doing the right thing, and grow up._

He shut down the computer and went to join Eiji on the bed. “He’s going to be mad when he reads that reply, Eiji,” Niou said. “But I’ll help you protect your heart.”

Eiji leaned over and kissed Niou’s cheek softly. “I trust you,” he said softly.


	12. Chapter 12

Oishi was flabbergasted. He had opened his email and found a message from an email he didn’t recognize, but since Eiji’s name was in the subject line, he opened it and found it was from Niou Masaharu. As he read the obviously angry letter from Rikkai’s petenshi, he grew more and more confused. He had no clue about anything Niou was talking about and, when he saw the original message at the bottom of the letter, he felt his cheeks heat up. He hadn’t written the note, even though it was from his email account, and there was only one other person who had access to his email.

He put his head down on a small clear spot on his desk and started thinking hard. So many things started to make sense to him. Oishi’s hand groped out blindly and found his cell phone right where he had left it. He cracked an eye open only long enough to dial a number and then closed it again.

“There was only a five percent chance you would contact me this morning.”

“Inui, I need advice,” Oishi said. “And I think you’re the only one who can really help me out.”

“There is a fifty percent chance this involves Eiji and your girlfriend,” Inui said. Oishi could hear pages being turned in the background. “What, exactly do you wish to know, Oishi?”

“Just tell me what you know, please,” Oishi said. “I’m not really liking my thoughts right now.”

Inui cleared his throat. “I believe there is much you really do not need to know right now, such as direct feelings involved or probabilities that there is outside interference to your relationships....”

Oishi sat up so fast he almost fell over backwards in his desk chair. “Wait a minute, Inui, what do you mean outside interference?” he asked.

“Ah, you wouldn’t have seen it,” Inui replied. “That is in another notebook, Oishi. However, I can recall several times your girlfriend came to the clubhouse or courts searching for you, and you were off working with Ryuzaki-sensei. She was less than polite to Eiji.”

“Inui.”

“How plain do you wish me to be, Oishi? There is a 98.439% chance this will ruin your current relationship with your girlfriend.”

“I think that’s already happened.”

He could almost see Inui’s glasses gleaming. “What happened, Oishi?”

“You first.”

“Very well, she told Eiji to stay as far away from you as possible,” Inui said. “She was quite insistent that you wished nothing more to do with him and were just waiting to find the right time to tell him about this. Eiji did his best to not let her words bother him, but you could see that he wilted every time she talked to him. Fuji finally had to step in and stop her.”

Oishi winced in spite of how mad he was getting. He could only imagine exactly what Fuji would have said or done to protect Eiji from a threat. “Why didn’t anyone tell me about this when it was going on?” he asked. “I mean, I could have done something about it, talked to Eiji and maybe he would still be here in Japan.”

“Would you be able to sleep with Eiji?” Inui asked.

“Eh?” Oishi’s cheeks flushed red. “Inui, how can you just ask a question like that? And what does it have to do with anything we’re talking about?”

“Eiji left Japan because he is in love with you, Oishi,” Inui said. “I understand you learned that yesterday. I cannot imagine that Eiji is too happy with Fuji for informing you, I can understand why he did it. Eiji almost always does what he can to make sure that everyone else is happy and taken care of, even if he has to harm himself to do it. But in this instance, I believe he did something for himself.”

Oishi sighed. “Tezuka already lectured me on that, Inui,” he said. “I still don’t get why you asked if I would be able to sleep with Eiji.”

“Would you really have doomed Eiji to a life of watching you, wishing for something which he could not have, or can you realize that he has moved on and is likely going to not only grow as a tennis player and person, but find someone who loves him for who he is?” Inui asked.

“Inui,” Oishi breathed.

“There is a 100% chance you were too blind to see what was in front of you and have now lost it,” Inui said. “I do not mean to be harsh, Oishi, though I realize I am. You allowed yourself to become blinded by some trait within your girlfriend and remained blinded until Fuji threw some information into your face in an attempt to shock you back to the real world. Has it worked?”

“The email I received during the night did,” Oishi said. “When I left Seigaku yesterday, I met up with my girlfriend and told her what had happened. She has access to my email account and sent Eiji a letter blaming him for everything. Eiji sent it to Niou and Niou is the one who wrote back to me.”

“II data,” Inui murmured. “I hadn’t realized their relationship had grown to be so deep. There is a 75.9012% chance that Niou was not happy with you and said so within his email.”

“You can up that to closer to a hundred,” Oishi said. “I’m not even sure where Niou is, or why Eiji is suddenly such good friends with him, but I’m scared to go out and risk the chance of an attack from Niou.”

Inui sighed. “Niou has left Japan, although no one knows where he is,” he said. “I spoke with Renji not long after Niou was last seen in Tokyo and found out that two of the Rikkai regulars went out of their way to break Niou’s spirit and drove him away from not only the school, but the country as well.”

“Yukimura did seem awfully anxious to find Niou,” Oishi said. “But he seemed fine to me when I saw him.”

“So did Eiji,” Inui pointed out. “For most of a school year, and you never realized there was a problem with him. Oishi, it might be time for you to admit you are not the best judge of character.”

Oishi put his head back down on his desk. “Every conversation I have makes me feel worse,” he said. “And I don’t have Eiji’s new phone number, so I can’t call and talk to him. He’s screening his emails, and I don’t have the time or money to fly to England and work things out with him. I’m just worried about him. What do you think the chance is that he’ll fall for the first guy to show him any type of attention and wind up getting hurt worse?”

“Below ten percent, if even that,” Inui said. “Eiji is hurting and is most likely going to focus on his school work and tennis while he makes an attempt to recover. Your best option at this point is to email him, inform him of everything that has occurred and ask him to contact you. And then allow him the time to think and reestablish contact with him. Do not overwhelm him with emails.”

Oishi sighed. “I guess I really don’t have much of a choice,” he said. “Any other advice?”

“Change your password to your email account and do not allow your girlfriend to obtain it,” Inui said. “I cannot tell you what to do with her, however, there is a 98.9% chance she will continue to come between you and your friends should you allow her the chances to do so.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Oishi said. “I’m going to have a talk with her later and it’s very likely that she’s not going to be my girlfriend much longer. I just wish someone would have said something sooner so Eiji wouldn’t have been hurt so badly.”

“You never answered my question about sleeping with Eiji.”

“And won’t,” Oishi said. “There’s some data, Inui, that you are never going to get from me. Thanks for your help, I’ll see if I can write something to Eiji that doesn’t sound like I’m trying to get out of trouble for what’s happened.”

“Please keep me informed,” Inui said. “Especially if there is further contact from Niou. Renji is quite concerned about him.”

“I know it’s none of my business, Inui, but what exactly happened?”

“Niou’s home life was far from ideal and he relied upon his team for a number of things,” Inui said. “His doubles partner told him that no one on the team respected Niou or had kept a secret for him, instead spreading it around the rest of the regulars as gossip. Yagyuu further told Niou that Yukimura, Niou’s boyfriend at the time, had been doing the same. Niou left Rikkai that day and no one from the team has seen or heard from him since. Renji and Yukimura figured out what happened and made an attempt to inform Niou of it, but he ignored them.”

Oishi winced. “And then I came along and said some pretty mean things to him when he was out with Eiji,” he said. “That couldn’t have helped anything. I was just worried about Eiji being with Niou because Niou is known for playing tricks on everyone, and he hurt Eiji during our match, and tried to do the same to Fuji. I guess it didn’t help Eiji’s feelings towards me either. I have a lot to make up for, Inui.”

“I’m sure Eiji will forgive you, Oishi,” Inui said. “You just have to convince him that you really didn’t know what was going on, or that you didn’t write that email. I believe there is a 89.452% chance that will be the hardest part. And it is equally likely you will have to convince Niou of the same things. He and Eiji have become close friends.”

“Okay, then what are the chances of Eiji dating Niou?” Oishi asked.

“Less than 50% based on my current data,” Inui replied. “However, I will admit that my current data is several weeks old.”

“I want Eiji to be happy again,” Oishi said. “I want him to be bouncy and happy and feel like he did back before all this started.”

“He is improving,” Inui said. “His blog states that he and his new doubles partner have won places as starters for his school’s tennis team and they are starting extra practices soon.”

“Inui, would you be willing to email me the link to the blog? I somehow never got it from Eiji and I’d like to be able to keep up with what he’s doing, even if I can’t talk to him for a while. It’d make me feel better.”

“As long as you promise not to inundate him with comments, yes,” Inui said. “I believe you’ll see that Eiji is happy in England, although he misses his family. But that is only to be expected.”

“Thanks,” Oishi said. “And I’ll send him that email now. I don’t know what I’m going to say, but I’ll send it.”

“Let me know if I can be any further help,” Inui said. “And good luck with your exams later today.”

Oishi stared at the phone for a moment, wondering not for the first time, exactly how Inui got all of his information.  
***********

Eiji woke up, warm, and realized that Niou was wrapped around him and they were both buried under the blankets. He really liked waking up with the other boy in bed with him. Eiji was a cuddler by nature and finding another boy who seemed to enjoy it too just made him like Niou even more. He wasn’t stupid, he knew they still had a long way to go to get to the point where Niou would be able to trust him completely, but Eiji had hope that it would happen. And he really wanted a chance at not only Yukimura, but the rest of Niou’s former team. They had no business treating another person like they had. Maybe when he and Niou went back to Japan for a visit, they could hunt down Rikkai and Oishi and defeat them all on the courts. That would hurt more than anything else he could think of to do to them.

He was so happy to be a regular on the school tennis team. It made him feel like he really, finally belonged at the school. And they had classes starting that day too. Eiji was still nervous about how well he would be able to understand everything in class, but Niou would be able to help - and he could help Niou - so they could keep up. Eiji really had a feeling it would be easier than it had been in Japan, even with the language barrier they were facing.

Eiji glanced at the clock and then at the computer. He really didn’t want to turn the machine on, fearing that Oishi would have written another mean email, one to Niou, and there would be a fight. Eiji didn’t want anyone to be fighting. It wasn’t worth it. But he appreciated Niou’s determination to keep him from getting hurt. He let his eyes close again. There was still time before the alarm went off, and Eiji just wanted to enjoy lying in the bed cuddled up with Niou. Being that warm and comfortable made it seem like they would be able to do anything as long as they were together.


End file.
